


My Immortal

by MrsSonBreigh



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Divorce, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Friendship/Love, Growing Old Together, Hyperbolic Time Chamber | The Room of Spirit and Time, Idiots in Love, Immortality, Infidelity, Light BDSM, Literal Sleeping Together, Living Together, Love Confessions, Love Letters, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Old Age, Unhappy marriage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-21 05:51:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 59,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9534434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsSonBreigh/pseuds/MrsSonBreigh
Summary: Left in a cell to avoid being attacked for his immortality, Vegeta lives out his eternal life wishing for an escape. When it comes, he all but rushes to Earth, hoping to make a fake wish on the Dragon Balls to cover up his being immortal, but fails. After the defeat of Buu, Vegeta tries to explain away his youthful appearance, which leads him into a series of events he can't escape. Also posted on ff.net.





	1. Chapter 1

Many things can happen in just one second. I have had many seconds.

I have had a second when I was thrown into seclusion. I have had a second when I found a way out.

I have had seconds of love, fear, anger.

I have had seconds of my blood running cold, seconds of adrenaline flowing through my veins as I run for my life.

That was a long time ago.

As an immortal, my life has been extensively full of fear. Many believe that I have nothing to be afraid of.

They are wrong.

I am the only immortal I have ever met. If I had met more, I wouldn't be so lonely. Everyone that I have ever loved has died before they had a chance to live.

The guilt eats me alive at times.

On my home planet, I had protectors. Many of them, through the years. They have all died of either old age or attacks from the others. Every time I get new protectors, I get two at a time, incase one of them dies.

My father arranged a secret group of Collaborators. Military generals, leaders, elites.

He told them to protect me at all costs.

After my father had his time, the Collaborators put me into what was essentially a prison. I had no way of getting out.

Then one day, my main adviser, Nappa, came to me with groundbreaking news.

"King," He said, out of breath from sprinting to my cell, "The board has found something that may help you."

With my head in my hand, I sighed and motioned for him to continue.

"At the other side of the galaxy, there's a small planet, and if we go there, we might be able to cover up your, uh, issue," He looked around the room, making sure there were no spies, as there were regularly. They too died all too soon.

"Continue," I said, bored in my execution, but intrigued in my mind.

"They have magic balls, and apparently they can grant you any wish you please."

"What is your point, Nappa?" I sat up and erected my posture.

"My Lord, if we travel to this planet we may wish for you to be sterile, and be able to prevent any incidents with the whores, if they got a hold of you," He bowed at the waist, his head falling low.

"Arrange a meeting for me with the Collaborators. I wish to discuss the situation with them before our departure."

Nappa stood again and nodded, leaving the room and locking it behind him.

Nobody sees the royal family. It's tradition. The only times I'm allowed out is when there is a festival or holiday, and I pose as a descendant, the 'new' King.

I stopped aging when I was hardly an adult, my soft face holds the same shape it did more than two thousand years ago. I sighed and gazed into the small mirror on my stone wall. I did not see the point of having it, because my face never changed.

During my seclusion, I had made many, many friends, if they can be called such.

The people I was fond of, the people that treated me normally.

None of them ever knew my secret. I took pictures with them, hoping to figuratively immortalize them with photos. I kept them in a small lockbox.

I have attended too many funerals incognito. I have made too many friends without telling them my real name, who I was and where I came from.

My second advisor, Raditz, came to my cell, the iron lock clanking around as he opened it from the outside.

I could escape at any time, but I chose not to, so I can appease the Collaborators. It was in my best interest to keep them happy, and my guards alive.

"My Lord," He said, bowing immediately and talking to the ground, "The Collaborators wish to meet with you immediately, and requested that Nappa and I be your advisers along the trip.

I nodded, "Take me to them. I want to get this done with."

"Yes, Lord," He stood upright, allowing me to pass by before following me down the hall into the Main Collaborator's office, where the whole board was seated.

Raditz spoke for me, "Dear Collaborators, your King."

They all stood and bowed out of formality, but I knew none of them truly and honestly respected me. I nodded to them and took my empty seat at the head of the table. The head member, Ackee, stood and cleared his throat.

"King Vegeta, if I may make a suggestion," He paused for my permission to continue.

"You may."

With his hands clasped together he leaned forward slightly, announcing their discovery.

"As out researchers have discovered, there are wish-granting orbs on a distant planet. It would take a long time to travel there, but as time is obviously not an issue for you, my King, I'm sure you wouldn't mind taking the trip," He sat, folding his hands on the desk, waiting for my answer.

"As far as the travel time, how long would the trip be?"

"A year one way, at the most with our latest ship technology. The total wait would be two years, though, because we wish to send Raditz to the planet alone to asses the level of danger. All to assure your safety, of course," Ackee closed his eyes and waited for a response.

"As far as I'm concerned, Ackee, I am perfectly capable of protecting myself, but if it gives you comfort, I will allow this plan to come into action. Of course, I will want Nappa traveling with me when I leave, but I also want scouters active and with me at all times so I may communicate with Raditz on his excursion."

"Of course, my King, whatever you please."

"Is that all?" I crossed my arms, impatient.

"No, actually," The Collaborator's second in command, Rambu, stood and folded his hands in the same fashion as Ackee, "It appears that the planet the orbs are on, is the same planet the second son of Bardock was sent after his birth, Raditzs' little brother."

"This is important to me, for what reason, Rambu?" I uncrossed my arms as he scrambled to explain himself.

"W-well, he is a full blooded Saiyan, my Lord, and given that he has grown significantly in the past twenty or so years, he could be a possible adviser, if you wish him to be, of course, my Lord," He sat, finished with his statement.

"If he proves to be strong enough, then I will consider him," I crossed my arms again, "I have another request, if we are finished with the matter of the boy."

"Of course, King Vegeta," Ackee stood, "We will do everything in our power to be sure this mission goes as planned."

I nodded, "I wish to be released from my room for the year the Raditz is not present. You may assign me another adviser for the time if you wish, but given I run into conflicts on this planet I want to be physically prepared. My muscles haven't exactly been growing in my... room."

The Collaborators looked between each other with concerned looks, wordlessly debating with one another on how to deal with my request.

Rambu nodded to the others, coming to a decision, "You may, but you must sleep there, training, eating and your personal hygiene may be preformed elsewhere."

I nodded, appeased, "Alright. I want Raditz to leave today, within the hour. Ackee, see to it that Raditzs' ship is set to the correct coordinates. Rambu, Set up three scouters for Raditz, Nappa, and myself."

I turned and left the room, swiftly walking back into my cell and retrieving the dusty spandex suit folded in the lone desk drawer.

"My Lord, don't you think you're being a bit hasty? You have an entire year, do you not?" Raditz stood at the entry, a hand over his chest. I turned to him with a grimace.

"Raditz, a year to someone who is millennia old is like the length of tea time for you. Now if you'll remind me where the training rooms are located," I looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to escort me.

"Oh, yes, this way, King Vegeta," He turned on his heel and led me down a few hallways to the wide wooden doors of the training areas.

"Thank you, Raditz. I want you to get going. I will see you in two years time," I opened the doors and smelled the old familiar smell of sweat and old punching bags. I smiled to myself as I changed.

Nothing in the room had changed except for a few new fixtures and obviously new equipment. I strolled around, not knowing where to start. My eyes fixated on a small panel on the wall toward the back of the room. Upon closer inspection, there was a small label above the panel engraved wit the words, WEIGHT SIMULATION.

A small red 'one' appeared over the number panel, indicating the machine was off. Shrugging, I pressed '2', then 'Enter'.

The room became warm, my limbs magnetized to the ground. I struggled to keep my footing as I walked over to one of the punching bags. I could hardly lift my arms let alone punch the bag hard enough to make it move. I sigh, opting to try to walk instead of damaging anything.

The room seemed smaller under the increased gravity. All of the equipment looked far more intimidating than it did when I had first walked in.

A hard knock on the wooden door caught my attention.

"King, are you in there?" Nappa asked, seeming concerned.

"Yes, Nappa, I am. Leave me be, and have a meal ready for me when I am finished, "I struggled to catch my breath after such a long sentence, but Nappa didn't seem to notice.

"Yes, Lord," I heard his heavy footsteps recede down the hallway.

This may be the longest year of my life.


	2. Chapter 2

My body felt heavy, I could hardly move, and trying to breathe was like a constant sprint.

"I have to become stronger."

I moved my limbs as if they were trees, smashing them against the ground with every descent they made.

Now across the room, I stopped to catch my breath. I stared at the floor just below my nose. It smelt of sweat and feet. I grimaced and did my best to stand, shoving my legs under my torso, forcing myself upward.

My body shook in the hot air, struggling to even maintain life, my heart beating frantically.

Standing, I sighed and turned my head around, looking at the walls. About five hundred feet to walk all around it.

I decided to try to make ten laps. Jut under a mile. I trudged to the closest wall, flattening my palm against the cool surface, and started walking.

With every pass by the panel, my body begged me to shut it off. It begged me to just push the little red button at the bottom so it didn't have to try so hard to function. I avoided looking at it, the temptation too much to handle. I would frown and take my steps even more determined, telling myself that if I were to cover this up I would have to work for it.

Six months later, I'd worked myself up to level ten. I ran with confidence around the room, lapping twenty miles before I started sweating.

I was proud of my progress, but I knew I was not nearly strong enough to take on whatever or whoever might be waiting for me out there. I turned the level up to twenty, starting my struggle all over.

Soon a year was up, and the scouter on the dumbbell shelf chimed with Raditzs' call.

I struggled to crawl over to the shelf at level fifty, careful to not knock any weights down. It'd be permanently damaging. Lifting the scouter felt like shoving a boulder off my hand, even though it probably weighed no more than forty pounds. I strained putting it to my ear, the crackling voice of my youngest adviser coming over the speaker.

'King, I have arrived. Kakarot seems to have grown to enjoy the company of the people on this planet. I gave him a mission, and he refused. I request that you let the Collaborators know that I am defending myself, and you and Nappa should leave in the next few days at the very latest.'

I nodded to myself, knowing he couldn't see me.

"Yes, Raditz, thank you. I will ask Nappa to schedule a meeting with them today. I ask you to please try to reason with Kakarot more, if you can. He could be valuable. If you are still alive by the time Nappa and I arrive, I will see you then," I caught my breath, stomping over to turn the panel off. With a whir, the room cooled down and I could move my limbs with great ease. I tested out a few attacks, satisfied with the results. "That is all, Raditz, take care."

'Yes, sir.'

Opening the wooden doors, I walked out of the training area in my tattered clothes, searching for Nappa, who never went far from the entrance.

"Nappa. Take me to the Collaborators and prepare for our departure. I expect nothing less."

Coming to my side, Nappa went on a single knee, "Yes, my liege. Anything you wish."

Walking side by side down the hallways with my top adviser gave me the foreign sense of being important. Funnily enough, as the King, the Collaborators had put me very low on the priority list.

Walking into Ackee's office, I sat, looking him in the eye.

"That is all, Nappa, prepare for our trip."

"Yes, sir," He turned and left, shutting the door behind him loudly.

Ackee looked up from his paperwork, eyeing me with what I could only interpret as concern.

"Nappa and myself plan to leave tonight," I crossed my arms, not allowing for any type of objection.

Ackee sighed, rubbing his forehead, "Sir, it is really not a good idea for you to leave the palace. It would be unsafe."

I grunted, annoyed by being treated as a child, despite my being elder to everyone on the planet.

"I am telling you that I am leaving with Nappa tonight. Let the others know, I'm going to go get ready," Not giving Ackee time to protest again, I stood abruptly and leave the room, heading in the direction of my cell.

All year the door to the cell was open. I was allowed to come and go as I pleased. It annoyed me to have to request to be let out permanently even though I was the highest power on the planet.

From the closet I took a small knapsack and tossed in my lock box of photographs, my camera, and a small notebook. I slung my dusty cape from the hook on the wall to over my shoulders, rubbing my nose.

The cape smelled of stale food, the only notable part about it, because I only wore it to public events, there hadn't been one in a few years.

I swung it off of myself and step into the empty hallway, shaking it free of the thick layer of dust that had gathered on it from sitting.

Dust and dirt fell to the floor in sheets, breaking apart as they hit the ground. I slapped the cape against the wall a few times, letting a few more bunnies out.

Sighing, I threw it on again, not feeling the urge to sneeze this time. I strolled back into my cell, sitting on the soft bed for what was probably the last time. I set my knapsack in my lap and felt the soft material. I sighed, leaning back to lay down. I turned my head and smelled my sheets and pillow, admiring how not once had I seen a maid clean them and they still smelt like the garden outside.

I tucked my knapsack into the small pocket on the inside of my cape and rushed out, back down to Ackees office. Opening the door, I saw him staring at the same paperwork I left him with.

"Ackee, once I'm gone this government will change. I won't feel comfortable leaving you in charge if this is how efficiently you'll work. Keep in mind that I have no problem with replacing you if you wont be up to par with what the planet needs you for."

Ackee looked up, tired. "King Vegeta, with all due respect, I have been very overworked lately, planning for your departure, and in all honesty, the entire board, including myself, doesn't think that this trip will be everything you expect. My liege, we beg you to stay home, where you are safe. You are a rare person, and we need you to protect us."

I shook my head, "I cannot protect you if you lock me away for what is supposedly 'my own safety'. I refuse to stay. And given that I do not return, I want this government to be run by the very best. You are clearly not the best if you let a little paperwork get to your head. You are dismissed, Ackee. Pack at once and leave the palace grounds."

Ackee furrowed his brow, but did not question me. He leaned down and began to unpack things from his desk.

I swung around, my cape billowing as I left the room, "I will be back before I leave. I believe it is in your best interest to be gone when I get here."

"Yes, sir."

I took a left down the hall to Rambu's office, opening the door without knocking.

"My Lord," He greeted me, immediately standing and treating me respectfully. I see that the papers on his desk are organized and finished. I smiled.

"Rambu, you are now promoted to head of the board of Collaborators, I expect you to do better than your former coworker, yes? He should be out of that office soon, so feel free to move, if you'd like."

"Yes, my liege, thank you."

I turned to leave without a response, walking swiftly back to my cell to finish preparing for the departure. I collapsed back onto my bed, hardly noticing Nappa sitting in the small chair against the wall.

"King, the pods are ready for you. Please gather your things and we can leave," He stood, crossing an arm over his abdomen. I stood, rifling through drawers and tossing random things into the open knapsack, and ignoring most of the clothes.

"Of course, I've taken it upon myself to gather your clothing. I left it up to you to grab your keepsakes. I felt it too personal for me to handle," He bowed respectfully.

"That's fine, Nappa. Please make sure all of the items Ackee may have left behind in that office are removed at once. I will be on the landing pad waiting for you. And please see to it that he is escorted off of the palace grounds."

"Of course."

I turned, holding onto the edge of the door. "Uh, Nappa, direct me to the exit, please."

"Follow me, sir," He passed me and lead me down a few hallways, opening a large door to a balcony.

"I trust you haven't forgotten how to fly?" He looked down to me with concern. I shook my head 'no' and float steadily off the balcony and into the garden next the the prepared landing pad. Nappa shouted down to me, "I'm going to check the office and be right down. Obviously, feel free to pick whichever pod you want. The new tech can put us to sleep on the trip, if you'd like."

He turned back into the palace, disappearing behind the doors.

I looked around, first at the garden, fully tended to and blooming with color. I smiled and walked toward the bundles of flowers, running a gentle hand over the tops of them. Pulling my hand back, I saw that the flowers stained my skin a butter color. I turned to the pods, admiring the shiny metallic surface. I waved a hand over the door scanner, and the pod opened up, revealing the red leather interior with panels of buttons and screens. I backed up into it, falling comfortably into the seat. My arms sat into the dents made for them, my hands just shy of reaching the panels. I crossed my legs, leaning my head back into the soft rest.

Nappa's footsteps approached the pod, his head leaned in, smiling, "Are you ready to go? We can leave any time."

I closed my eyes, "Is Ackee off the grounds?"

Nappa clapped his hands once, startling me. "Yes, he is, at your request."

"Then we can go. Have you heard any words from Raditz?"

Nappa's shoulders slumped over, his spirit dampened. "Yes, it seems that he was defeated. There was nothing he could've done to defend himself against the people on this planet."

I shook my head, "He was a weakling. I expect you to perform better than he did. What is this planet called, again?"

Nappa strolled off, opening the other pod, "It's called Earth, if I remember correctly. Quite a queer name, huh?"

I closed my eyes again, "Yes... I guess it is."

"And the orbs are called 'Dragon Balls', I think. Anyway, if you press the blue button on the bottom left side of the right panel, we'll be able to go." Nappa shouted from inside the other pod, "Do you have your scouter?"

"Yes, Nappa, thank you for reminding me," I took the scouter out of my bag and fastened it to the side of my head.

I punched the button Nappa had pointed out, and both doors of the pods closed, a hiss of air sounding as the pods sealed themselves.

I leaned my head back again, trying my best to relax. I was anxious, I had never left the planet. From the moment I was born, my father made it a point to seal me away, to protect me. My father was not a bright man. He didn't seem to realize that being an immortal automatically protected me from being fatally hurt. It was because of him that my body did not have the strength of a warrior. In that past year, I had made up for it completely, training my body to the point of destruction.

The only way my father knew I was an immortal was the prophecies stored in the palace library. They said that the son of a great King would be born with eternal life if he possessed the Moon Mark.

Essentially, the Moon Mark was a birth mark in a crescent shape, wrapping around the top half of the base of my tail. The nurse that had delivered me pointed it out to my mother, who then told my father.

Both of them were executed.

My father immediately organized the board to keep me away from the society, mostly to keep me from harm, but also the whores that wanted to breed an immortal baby as well.

Of course, my father hadn't thought of the second advantage.

The pods raised up, preparing to shoot off into deep space. I took one last deep breath before it was taken from me, the blast powerful enough to shove me down into my seat. Nappa's voice rang quietly in my ear through the scouter.

'If you push the small green button at the top of the left panel it'll initiate sleep-mode.'

"Thank you, Nappa," I pushed the green button, and a fine mist filled my pod. I felt drowsy, then my vision went black.


	3. Chapter 3

The system woke me up routinely, once every month. I would receive my nutrition, and an update on the ETA of our ships. The system wouldn't put me back to sleep unless I pressed the little green button again. On the last month, I decided to stay awake and fall into the natural ebb and flow of my sleep cycle.

Nappa did not speak to me through the scouters, so I assumed he stayed asleep for the last month. I sat in my pod, staring around lazily, bored. I sighed and gazed out the red tinted window of the exit, watching planets and stars whiz by faster than I could get a good look at them. I decided to draw, unfortunately.

It seemed funny. After years and years of trying to learn how to draw so my lines looked pleasant, I have never once succeeded. It frustrated me at times, I had literally all the time in the world, yet I couldn't seem to master anything artistic.

Nappa had told me once that I had a nice singing voice, but I pushed it off as meaningless banter.

Thinking about the arts depressed me, in a way. They were something I was so passionate about, something I loved in secret. I didn't have a way to listen to music, so I tended to either hum made up songs to myself, or if the palace was quiet enough, I could hear the music from the surrounding city.

Lord Frieza was another thing.

Frieza paid the Collaborators to use our military for his own gain. I wasn't ever crazy about the guy, but he never really did anything to me personally, so I didn't really bother to think about him.

Anyway, Lord Frieza used our military, and that was all well and good, but he turned our other citizens into soldiers, too. The only people really left on the planet, according to the Collaborators, were the young children and the little amount of females we had anyway. Some of the men decided to stay back, to try and keep the Saiyan culture alive. They kind of succeeded, because there was always music playing in the city, even if it wasn't a holiday or anything.

I took out my pen, opening my little book. I tried not to look at all the messy scribbles of the past attempts I've made to make something that even sort of looks like something else, but my eyes couldn't do much to avoid the black lines glaring at me.

I twirled the pen around in the fingers of my left hand, trying to brainstorm things to put to paper. I shrugged, deciding on the only thing I've kept for all these thousands of years.

My own damned face.

I felt stupid doing it, because, really, who is self-centered enough to draw their own face?

I've learned so much about art, yet, I still could never make it work. I've seen my own face so much that I didn't even need to look at the translucent reflection over by the exit.

I sketched a lumpy looking circle, already not doing so well for myself. I sighed, moving onto the next step. I tried my best to pull lines down from the middle of the circle into something shaped a little like a basket, but the bottom looked too sharp, and no matter how many times I drew over it, I couldn't get the shape to look anything like my chin.

I sighed and flipped to a new page, taking a deep breath to try and still the shaking in my arm.

'Vegeta,' Nappas voice rung through the scouter by my side. I jumped and picked it up, shakily putting it to my ear.

'It's not long until we land, are you sure you want to be stressing yourself out by drawing?'

I sighed again, closing the book and setting it to the side, where my scouter was previously sitting.

"Its not stressing me out, Nappa. Leave me be, why don't you?" I sat back in the chair, rubbing my forehead out of frustration.

'I apologize, King, but I do suggest sleeping for the rest of the ride. You do get anxious when you're awake for too long,' Nappa seemed insistent on me sleeping, but I didn't question it.

Ignoring the suggestion, I spoke again, "Tell me more about what we're up against."

'As far as the people, sir, or the dragon balls?'

"The people."

'Well, from the information the Collaborators have gathered, Raditz's brother is named Kakarot, their father is Bardock.'

"Bardock, huh? Isn't that the lower class that got into some trouble with the board a few years back?" I crossed my legs, intrigued.

'It is, and not long ago his second son, Kakarot was sent off to Earth because he was born with a power level of two. It's really a mystery how he killed Raditz, though it is possible he had help down there. I'm assuming that he didn't kill the Earthlings like he was supposed to, and he probably befriended them. It's pitiful.' Nappa's voice crackled out, and I spoke back.

"If this Kakarot is really stong enough to kill Raditz on his own, we might have a little trouble. And I doubt that he'll be too welcoming to us after fighting with our ally. It's crucial for you to be at your top performance, Nappa. I expect nothing less."

'Yes, my Lord.'

I rolled my eyes, annoyed at Nappa's maintained professionalism, "Cut the shit, Nappa. We're not in the castle anymore, you don't have to act like a guard."

'If you insist, Vegeta,' Nappa's tone heightened, becoming more casual, 'If you press the button again itll wake you up ten minutes before the land, if you want to go back to sleep.'

Without responding, I pressed the button again. The thoughts of the other saiyan ran through my head.

He must be so young. I remember the rumor now, about how weak Bardock's son was. I didn't find it too funny. That was maybe twenty five years ago.

He's still just a kid. It's so sad that he had to murder his own brother.

But, as a King, I wasn't really expected to be empathetic, or care about anything other than my own gain.

I shook my head as the drowsiness took over my brain. I wondered foggily what this Kakarot looked like. I smiled. If he looked anything like Raditz then he wouldn't be too pretty.

Sleep took me.

The way the system woke me up was something I kind of always looked forward to. It woke me gently, slowly bringing me from unconsciousness and back into the speeding pod. I swallowed down the little pills in the console on the right, supplementing for the month of no food. The shitty part about the pills was that I never got to eat real food, so once we landed, I wanted to find these dragon balls and then eat a real meal.

I sighed as the automated female voice came over the little speakers around the headrest.

'Hello, King Vegeta. We hope your sleep was restful and rejuvenating.'

I wondered who 'we' was.

'Your estimated time of arrival on the planet Earth is eight minutes and forty one seconds. Please prepare yourself for impact.'

I've traveled in pods only a few times, all for business and formality. Usually it was for meetings with Frieza. The voice only tells you to prepare so you're not shocked when the soft airbags spring out of hiding and all but smother you as you land down on whatever chunk of rock you wanted to.

I crossed and uncrossed my arms, flexing the restful muscles to life.

The mist that put us to sleep seemed to be preserving my body, as well, because in the full year without even standing up, my muscles were still as bulging and sinewy as they were when I first sat in the pod.

I smiled, admiring the way my skin moved over the muscle. Suddenly, I felt narcissistic and frowned at myself, closing my eyes and crossing my arms again.

I gazed out the tinted window.

The planet was in sight. My pod had slowed down enough that I wasn't traveling at light speed anymore, and the pretty blue orb slowly got bigger.

Seeing new planets has always fascinated me. Even as a child I would try to see out of the little window in my cell, too high above my head for me to see the stars, so I would move the little chair and stand on it, resting my head on my crossed arms and gazed out at oblivion.

That was so long ago, even before I was fully grown.

Or, actually, just stopped growing. Once I was about nineteen years old, my body decided that it was at it's prime, and stopped before I was ready.

My body could be quite rude at times.

The planet seemed a lot smaller than Vegeta. But then again, Vegeta was a very big planet.

Coming from somewhere where I ruled everything on the planet to somewhere where I hardly have enough authority to ask someone to open the door for me was jarring, but I promised myself I would do my best to adjust.

I thought about what it might be like to land. Raditz never went into detail with me about what the surface looked like. From the sky, Earth was the polar opposite of Vegeta.

Earth was blue and green. Vegeta was red and orange.

It appeared that this planet had vast amounts of water. Vegeta had next to none, so rationing was introduced to avoid conflicts.

This planet had many clouds and a prominent weather system. Again, Vegeta had little water so the weather system was almost non existent.

On Vegeta it was also hot. On nice days it would only be one hundred and twenty degrees. I was hoping this planet was significantly cooler.

We neared the planet, and Nappa came into my ear again.

'Two more minutes, Vegeta. Are you ready?'

I nodded to myself. "Yes, Nappa. I'm ready."

'It seems that my scouter is already picking up Kakarot. Maybe he is as strong as we think.'

I gathered my open bag in my arms, adjusting everything in it and tucking my cape into it as well. Instead of carrying at my side I sat it in my lap.

My pod blasted through the clouds, speeding toward the ground. I hugged my bag to my chest and closed my eyes.

My whole body shook as the airbags popped open and the pod clashed with the ground, digging itself a big hole for me to climb out of.

The exit hissed and opened slowly. I stepped out and sucked in a cool breath of air and smiled.

This was going to be fun.


	4. Chapter 4

I have to take a break to tell you something about Kakarot. All these years I've known him now, I don't know what to think anymore.

Originally I hated him. He humiliated myself and Nappa, showing off like some cocky bastard.

But he's saved my life so many times, and I his. Especially after he sacrificed himself to kill Cell, I really started to admire him for the warrior he was. I felt ashamed, that in all my years living that he could do unimaginable things in such a short time.

He was so selfless where I was not. He was strong in ways that I fell short. He barely let anything get to him.

I was the opposite.

I've come to be quite fond of him, though I'd never let him know.

All this time I remember what I told myself.

I'm not expected to be empathetic, I'm a King. The only trouble was, being empathetic was my nature. I had learned to value life because it was fleeting, to not take it for granted, because at any moment someone can be taken from you.

I terrified myself with the nasty things I had said to Kakarot over the years. I was always scared it would be the last thing he heard me say to him.

I never wanted to be his enemy. I only wanted to be the best. It just happened to turn out that it simply wasn't possible. I've learned to accept that it isn't his fault that he's better.

But one thing I do regret is never getting my fake wish. The ones I've befriended on Earth have no clue about my issue, though, so I guess it doesn't matter anyway.

I've tried to keep it a secret. It wasn't that hard, because they assumed that because I was wishing for immortality, I wasn't immortal.

Oh, how wrong they were.

I spent my twenty-one-hundredth birthday fighting side by side with Kakarot. I was so consumed by adrenaline that I didn't remember my birthday was that day until just past midnight the day after.

I wouldn't've changed a thing.

I guess I had Kakarot to thank for pushing me so hard to become this strong.

He was the only one making me train, surpassing me over and over. I was so obsessed with being stronger than him that I hardly noticed I had become stronger than everyone else.

It was pathetic, in a way. I pined and pined for something that was really a someone. I wasn't training to be strong, I was training to be comparable to Kakarot.

In my head, he was the epitome of everything I aspired to be. Strong, but more than that.

Compassionate, kind, soft-hearted, selfless. Even thinking about even being close to what he had accomplished in forty short years was mind-boggling to me, but I had kept up with him. I had never fallen too far behind. He never let me fall too far behind.

I admire him for that, too.

I also felt like a burden, making him slow down so I didn't get lost. He truly made me feel like a child. I sometimes forgot he was younger than me. Sometimes I thought of him as someone to look up to.

Until he made his sacrifice, though, it seemed most of my drive came from hate, rather than...

He was the reason why I sacrificed my own self, to destroy Majin Buu. We both failed in our endevours, though. Both Cell and Buu were not destroyed.

But, to me, our sacrifices were not in vain.

I've only died twice. Obviously it never lasts long.

I guess my father was right about me still being in danger. I guess death just never lasts long for me. I always found a way back.

When Kakarot died I was beside myself, really. I didn't want to fight, train, anything. All of my motivation died with him.

I guess that means I never wanted to be better than Kakarot, but I really did want to be on the same league. I wanted to be able to see him as my equal, and I wanted him to see me as an equal. I didn't care about his status, so much as I wanted to call him out on it to remind him that he was no better than anyone else.

I eventually settled down, had a family with Bulma. I can't say I don't love the woman, because I do, but our relationship was more of a mutual respect for the other than love.

I loved her because she cared about me, my safety, my health. She probably truly loved me with everything she was.

Of course I got on her nerves a lot. I get on everyone's nerves. I feel she got annoyed with me specifically when I went off to train or fight or whatever with Kakarot, but she felt that way probably because I would always come home covered in cuts and bruises, and she'd always patch me up. Only because she was such a good wife to me.

I really feel very guilty about it.

I feel like I've betrayed her for falling in love with Kakarot. She trusted me with her everything. I just couldn't give my everything to someone I knew would die before me, just like everyone else.

I had two kids with the woman, thanking every God above neither of them came out immortal. That would've caused some pretty intense conversation. I would have anxiety about all of it, until the little cubs came out and neither had a tail, and neither had the Moon Mark.

Both times, I would let out a long breath, like I had held it for nine whole months. Bulma would always ask me about it. 'What's wrong,' She'd say, 'Just relieved, I guess,' I'd say back, putting the blame on the fact that normally Saiyan mothers didn't live through their first childbirth, let alone a human female birthing two Saiyan children.

I admired her resilience. The same way I admired Kakarot's determination.

But, yes, Kakarot stole me long before I settled with Bulma, even though I didn't know it. I remember I would always watch the way he moved, especially during our second meeting on planet Namek, while he was fighting Jeice and Burter. He moved so fast, so gracefully it was hard to watch, yet hard to look away from.

That was probably the moment I fell in love.

Kakarot has made my recent life very interesting. He's taken me on adventures, he damn near killed me, he's saved my life, he's taken me to meet Gods.

Some things that twenty years ago, I would've never thought I'd get to do. Which is a silly thought. I had all the time in the universe to do those things, it just never occurred to me that I'd actually do them.

I kinda felt hopeless. Sad, angry, and hopeless. I've always felt that way. It was natural for me until Bulma woke me from my sleep one night, telling me that I was screaming and sweating in my sleep.

I told her it was just a dream. That was a lie. I've never had a dream. Not once in the hundreds of thousands of times I've slept, I've never had a dream. There were probably many things about being immortal that the Collaborators hid from me, but it was too late to go back.

They were all dead anyway. The planet was destroyed not long after I left. There was no home for me to go back to.

Kakarot was my new home.


	5. Chapter 5

I sit back, sipping on the fruity drink that somehow found it's way into my hand.

Music and sweaty people dance around, filling the air with a common joy. Bulma invited her favorite employees over, and all of the earthlings in our little posse. I watch both Kakarot and my wife as they dance together, shaking their bodies strangely, drinks sloshing out onto the ground outside.

Soon, most of the humans leave, and only Bulma, Kakarot and his family, Piccolo, my children, and myself were left.

We sit in the living room, all staring at a large television, letting the alcohol in our systems drain.

Suddenly, my wife speaks, "Hey, honey,"

I sigh, looking over at her sipping on another beer, "What is it?"

"Can you start aging yet? I'm gonna end up looking like I'm your mother if your face doesn't get a little older."

Cold runs through my heart as I panic, "What do you mean?" I try to keep my voice calm, but it hardly works.

"I mean in all the years I've known you, you haven't aged a single day, and it's driving me up a wall," She takes a big slug of her drink, slamming it on the table. I look around the room nervously, seeing that most of the people in the room are staring at Bulma, but Kakarot is boring holes into the back of my head. I shiver.

"Bulma, I've told you that Saiyans live significantly longer than humans. My body hasn't started aging yet because to my biology, I'm hardly out of adolescence," I closed my eyes, smirking mischievously, "And that means you're essentially a pedophile."

Bulma gasps slightly, choking on her drink and coughing. I laugh lightheartedly to myself, "I'm just fucking with you, calm down,"

She frowns, leaning on her crossed arms, "Not funny, Vegeta."

I shrug, turning back to the television. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Kakarot looking at me every couple of seconds.

I wonder what he's thinking. If anything.

The movie we're watching ends, and between Bulma taking it out of the player and tossing another one in, Kakarot scootches closer to me and asks, "How long are we supposed to live anyway, 'Geets?"

"Don't call me that," I cross my arms, biting my tongue to avoid calling him a name.

"Sorry, I forget you don't like that name, anyway, Vegeta, how long are we supposed to live?"

I shake my head and shrug at the same time, "Anywhere from two to three-hundred, typically. We'll outlive everyone in this room, definitely."

"Whoa, 'Geeta, that's bonkers. How do ya' 'spose we're gonna live all alone? With everyone else gone I mean?"

His voice drops to a whisper, and I growl at the use of the nickname again, "You're more stupid than I thought if you really think we'll live together when everyone dies."

"Don't be so vulgar, please? I don't like saying words like that," He twiddles his thumbs between his lap, looking down at the floor, ankles crossed.

"What did I say?"

I know I sound as if I care, and I do. I'm just not supposed to.

"Saying things like death and dead make me squeamish, Vegeta, you know that," He twiddles his thumbs harder.

I do? I guess I do.

"Well, I apologize, Kakarot, but that is the reality of the situation at hand. You don't have to worry about it for a while yet, though. So don't bother yourself with it."

He nods, leaning the opposite way of me, falling onto his wife's shoulder. She laughs quietly and strokes the back of his hand with her thumb.

I have never felt the need to be in a humans place so much before. I sigh inwardly, knowing my pining is useless.

The movie continues without a hitch, until about twenty minutes in when Kakarot's loud snores fill the room, drowning out any possible noise from the television. Chichi groans as she pushes him off of herself, the sleepy man falling the opposite direction onto my shoulder. I grimace, trying to erect him in a way that he fell on neither of us. To no avail, though, as he fell right back on top of me, his big stupid head falling into my lap. I blush in the darkness, shaking his shoulder to wake him up.

"Kakarot, come on, wake up, you dumb ass," Shaking harder when he doesn't wake, I groan and rub my warm face with my other hand, the one on his shoulder stilling for a moment as I do.

His eyes flutter open, looking directly up to me as he regains consciousness. Panicking, he flails and falls off the couch, hitting his head on the coffee table as he comes up.

Rubbing the red mark on his forehead, his face appears between my knees, an embarrassing position to say the least.

"I-I'm sorry, Vegeta, I musta fallen asleep," He stands, face red and knees shaking.

"Whatever, Kakarot, I don't care. You're not sleeping here tonight, though so I suggest you take your family home before you really knock out.

He nods quickly, taking his wife's hand, who then reached her arm out for her two sons.

They give the tree of us a quick goodbye, popping out of the room once Kakarot puts his fingers to his head.

Piccolo shoves off the wall where he was standing, opening the back door gently, "I guess I'll be seeing the two of you again later. Goodbye, guys. Oh, and, Bulma, you hosted a hell of a party. Thank you for inviting me."

Bulma's head shoots up from her lap, sleepy, "Oh, Piccolo, of course. You know you're always welcome here.

Piccolo nods and sweeps out the door, closing it quietly.

In the silence, I suddenly feel drowsy, drained from the party and the little bit of embarrassment Kakarot had put me through.

I take the drunk Bulma upstairs to our bedroom after turning the television off and helping Trunks put Bra to bed.

I tuck in next to her, my tired head falling on a fluffy pillow. Soon, I fall asleep, recovering from the excitement of the party.

Bulma shakes me awake, squeezing my shoulder gently. "Hey, honey, Vegeta," She whispers hot breath over my ear.

"Hmm?" I rub my eye, trying to wake up.

"I have a crazy idea," She sits up, holding her hands to her chest excitedly.

"And that is?"

"So, okay," She stutters, too excited for her own good, "You know how you said you and Goku are gonna live a really long time? I was thinking, because we're all gonna die before you two, that you go into the Room of Spirit and Time with him for a few years. You, know, just to kill some time. How does that sound?"

I groan, shaking my head, "You're crazy if you think I'm going to willingly spend years alone with Kakarot, just because you had a crazy dream."

"No, but, listen. There's some sense to it, hold on," She talks fast, moving her hands around quickly. My tired brain has a hard time keeping up.

"Slow down a second, Bulma."

She takes a deep breath, her shoulders and chest heaving dramatically, "I know you really don't like Goku, but he looks up to you a lot."

This is new information to me, but I let it go for the sake of the conversation.

"He's told me so much, about how much he wants to be like you, how much he wishes he had all the emotion you do, he really does see you as a father figure or a big brother or something,"

Ouch.

"And I know you really don't want to give him the time of day, but if you go in that chamber with him, it might make you see how charming he is, really. I know it'd mean a lot to him if you did."

I shake my head, genuinely considering it now, "How do you know he'd even want to? You had this idea during your sleep, for Dende's sake."

"Honestly, Vegeta, do you really think Goku would pass up the opportunity to train, with you especially?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Exactly. Anyway, Dende told me a while ago that he fixed it up so you guys can be in there for however long you want. Listen, if you don't end up being his buddy when you're done, then the time that you burnt away in there will shorten the time you have to deal with him after everyone dies. How's that sound?"

I sigh, laying back down. "Fine. But only because you're so adamant. And I'm not gonna be the one that tells Kakarot about it, either. I don't want him thinking this is something I want to do."

"Okay," She chips, laying down next to me, "If you bring me over to his house tomorrow we can set it all up. The only trouble is Chichi being okay with you two being gone for a few days."

"I doubt she'll have a problem with it. She rarely sees the man anyway." I close my eyes and try to get comfortable.

"Good point. Night, honey."

I grunt, rolling over, "Good night."

The next day, Bulma wakes up late and hungover, complaining about a headache as she sips on her coffee.

"Maybe you shouldn't've drank so much, then," I said, preparing myself a cup of tea.

"Maybe you shouldn't sass me."

I shrug, sitting down across from her, "Whatever, do you still want to go see Kakarot today? Or do you wanna wait?" I'm hoping she wants to wait for a few days, but no such luck.

"No, just let me wake up a little bit, take a shower, et cetera, and then we can head off. You're not getting out of this one, Vegeta, no way no how."

I sigh, rubbing my head, "Fine, but I'm showering first."

Bulma chuckles and cocks her eyebrow, "Oh? Do you want to smell all nice for Goku or something?"

I scoff, setting my cup down, "Of course not, I just want to avoid showering with him in the general area for as long as possible."

Bulma laughs quietly, covering her mouth, "Okay, Vegeta, keep telling yourself that."

I roll my eyes while finishing my tea. I rinse the cup quickly and go to the bathroom, undressing quickly and hopping in the shower.

I let the water get hot before I fully get in, and sigh once the scalding stream hits my shoulders. I roll my head back and feel my hair loosen itself and fall down my shoulders to my back. I close my eyes, stretching my arms out and waking my muscles up.

I sit there for a while before washing my hair, and consider for a moment before conditioning it as well.

I like the feeling my hair gets when it's conditioned, and I only do it so often because it makes me feel girly. Every once in a while, though, I give in, just so I can feel the soft slick texture it makes in my usually tangled and rough hair.

Bulma knocks on the bathroom door, asking me to get out so she can get in. I tell her I'm almost done and rinse my hair before stepping out and wrapping a towel low around my hips. I inspect my face in the bathroom mirror, running my calloused fingertips over my plump cheeks.

Sometimes I feel like I look strange, with the body of a warrior, but the face of a little kid. I shrug, assuming I look just fine because Kakarot is the same way.

I step out of the room, past Bulma and into our bedroom. I towel dry my hair and throw on my usual suit, ignoring the old armor. After slipping my boots on, I take a large duffle bag from the closet and stuff as many of my suits in there as I can. I have almost twenty-five, I think.

Once all of those are in, I try to fit more boots in, but I can only put in three pairs before nothing else can fit. I zip it up and toss it onto the bed, watching it sink.

I realize I don't even know if Kakarot is going to agree.

But damn, I hope he does.

I also realize that I have no idea how long I'm going to be in there with him, if he does agree.

Bulma said a few days, so that's a few years at the very least.

I groan, the weight of reality hitting me. A few years is nothing, of course, but alone, with Kakarot, is something completely different.

Sitting, I hear the shower in the next room stop as Bulma gets out and comes into the room.

I don't feel like watching her get dressed, so I go back into the bathroom to brush my teeth.

While brushing, I look at my face again.

I scowl at it, trying to make myself look older, but I only end up looking like a toddler trying to scare someone to get what he wants. I close my eyes, not able to look at myself anymore out of shame.

I spit and rinse my mouth. I avoid looking at my face as I fuck with my gradually stiffening hair. I realize that I'm all but grooming myself. I never groom myself, hardly, unless I'm really grooming.

I shake my head and walk out of the bathroom, abandoning my hair and strolling into the bedroom. Bulma is brushing her hair while sitting on the bed. I sit in the chair across the room, folding my arms.

She sets the brush down and looks at me silently.

"What?"

She sighs and smiles, "You're excited, aren't you?"

I shake my head and I feel my face warming, "No, not at all."

She laughs out loud, holding her stomach, "Oh, please, Vegeta. Last night when he fell on you I was expecting you to lose your shit on him, but you were so gentle it was almost cute. You can't tell me he isn't at least growing on you."

I flex my fingers into my palms, becoming nervous. "Whatever, Bulma."

"I've known Goku my whole life, and let me tell you a secret."

I close my eyes.

"I have never ever seen him act like what he acts like around you. Now, I'm not saying anything questionable," She eyes me, "But he feels something around you that he doesn't with anyone else. Just keep that in mind. Let's go."

I don't respond, but stand and walk swiftly out of the room and to the front door, waiting for Bulma to put her shoes on before hoisting her onto my hips and flying off toward the mountains.

The dampness still in my thick hair makes me chilly as the wind flies through it. I shake my head from side to side, hoping for it to dry completely.

Bulma holds onto the sleeves of my suit like reins, flushing her torso with my back.

Before long, I land in the lawn, lowering Bulma to the ground gently.

"Well," I prompt, "Go ahead."

She places her hands on her hips and nods, walking toward the charming wooden door.

I've only been to Kakarot's home several times, and the house always strikes me as very modest for the strongest man in the universe.

The siding, made of all different color stained wood is quaint and seemed if you step inside, you'd be greeted warmly, and probably with some nice baked goods.

I follow Bulma as she knocks on the door, Chichi opening it almost immediately. I peek past the two of them and see a tall pot of what looks like stock simmering.

"Oh, Bulma! Vegeta! What brings the two of you here?"

Bulma gives Chichi a warm hug, "May we come in?"

"Oh, yes, of course. Have you eaten yet? We have plenty."

"Yes, food sounds great," Bulma takes off her shoes and sets them down. I question all the formality, but write it off as Bulma trying to get Chichi in a better mood so she has a higher chance of approving Kakarot's leave.

I take off my shoes with some hesitation. I've never been comfortable without shoes on. I expose my black socks and set my boots down next to Bulmas and follow the two of them to the open living room.

I was correct in the thought that the inside of this little cottage would be just as warm as the outside, I immediately feel relaxed when my body hits the worn but comfortable corduroy couch. It's tacky, but charming.

I tune out Bulma and Chichi's chatter for a bit and look around. The walls are littered with framed pictures of Chichi and Kakarot, and many of their boys.

A small picture of their wedding catches my attention, but it makes me feel strange, so I ignore it.

A loud ruckus comes from the other side of the house, Goten and Kakarot running out of the hallway and through the kitchen, chasing each other around the table and laughing loudly. I smile small to myself, admiring their silliness.

Both of them appear to still be in their pajamas. I smile wider.

Suddenly Kakarot skids to a stop, smiling over to me. Goten smacks into his shoulder, sending them both to the floor with a thud.

They look up with wide grins. The tall and short Kakarots smiling up at Chichi apologetically.

"What am I ever going to do with you boys," She rubs her forehead and stands, going to stir the pot of soup.

"Hehe, sorry, Chichi, we was just horsin' around," Kakarot rubs the back of his head as he stands and helps Goten up.

"I see that. But didn't you notice that we have some company?"

Kakarot looks back up to me, ignoring Bulma almost entirely.

"Hi, 'Geeta! You never come over, what gives?"

I push my head into my shoulders and look over to Bulma.

She looks to Chichi and props her elbow on the back of the couch, "See, Chichi, I was just wondering if we could take a week or so and just have a vacation, you and me. We deserve it, don't ya think?"

I'm about to speak up when I realize what she's doing, so only a tiny squeak comes out. I get another strange look from Kakarot, and I glare at him.

"Oh, Bulma, I'd love to do that, but I do have two constantly hungry Saiyans to feed." She ladles soup into five different bowls.

"I've already programmed my service bots at home to make plenty enough food to feed every Saiyan in that house. They can stay there. C'mon, whaddya say?"

Chichi bites her lip, setting the bowls down. Kakarot and the teenager instantly go to the table and make a mess wolfing it down.

"I guess just a week couldn't hurt. Vegeta, please eat."

The sudden address startles me, but I stand and cautiously make my way to the table. Once sitting, The smell of the broth hits me and I eat neatly and quickly, making much less noise than the others at the table.

I tune out Bulma and Chichi again, trying to figure out how I'm gonna do this without her around.

Once Bulma taps my shoulder for us to leave, I stand and pull my boots on, thanking Chichi for the food. Bulma stays inside for a moment before coming out with me and hopping on my back.

Taking off, I turn my head back and talk to her, "So whats the plan?"

"All of them are going to come over with their bags in a few hours. Goku read my mind, so he knows whats up. My mother will look after the kids while Chichi and I are gone, and then once we leave, you two can go up to Dende's place."

I shake my head, "Sometimes you're too smart for your own good."

I realize I'm not sounding enough like I'm dreading this situation, "You realize I'm only doing this to appease you, right? You realize you're using up seven years of my life?"

She nods happily, "It's a treat to get rid of you for a week," She winks, "You don't have to see me for seven whole years! You should be excited if anything."

I shake my head smiling, "Kakarot isn't much better."

"Oh, be quiet. You'll be itching to kiss me once you're out, and with any luck, you wont hate Goku much, either. Just give him a chance, okay?"

"I am, that's why I'm doing this shit." I land in the front of Capule Corp., lowering Bulma off my back.

"Listen, Vegeta, I have a few capsules for you to bring, too, food and such. I'll make a few extra suits and give you another bag. Just, you know, try not to destroy everything before the time is up, okay?"

I roll my eyes, opening the front door and going upstairs, "Fine."

Halfway up the staircase, she tosses up to me another big duffle bag, with four packs of capsules in it.

"Mr. Popo will have food in there for you two, but knowing Goku, you'll need a little extra." She shouts as she flings the bag at me.

I nod down to her and walk back into the bedroom, stuffing the rest of my suits and boots in, with plenty of room for more. Bulma soon comes up with more suits and puts them in the bags.

"Capsule number seven in there is empty so you can toss these in there. Just remember to take the other capsules out of the bag, too. We don't need a black hole to contest with," She chuckles, walking back out.

I take the capsule packs from the side pocket and take out the little one labeled with an '07'. I press the little button on top and toss it toward the bags, both disappearing and the capsule falling softly on the comforter. I pick it up and click it back into its proper place, noting to let Kakarot carry his bags all by himself without the help of a capsule.

It'd be suspicious of me to be nice.

I decide to take a small nap, not having anything else to do.

I lay down, not covering up but closing my eyes.

I lay there for a while before deciding that I can't fall asleep, so I'll go downstairs and find something to eat.

Downstairs, I toss a few sandwiches together, downing half a gallon of milk along with them.

Only slightly satisfied, I try to reach up to the cupboards to get the left over pastries, but, embarrassingly, I have to float up a few inches to reach them. With a scowl, I eat a fritter, wiping the frosting off of my face with the back of my hand. I'm happy no one is around watching me make a fool of myself.

I head back upstairs and double check that I have everything, looking around in the closet and in drawers, tossing a few extra things in a bag along with the packs.

Suddenly three extra bodies are in the room, I tumble back and fall onto the bed, wiping my face when I see Kakarot and his family. I sigh, pointing downstairs, "She should be in the living room."

Kakarot nods to me, putting his hand on Goten's shoulder and leading him out the door. Chichi follows after them, all their bags over her shoulder.

I sort of feel bad for tricking the woman, but it was Bulma's idea in the first place, so I don't let it get to me for long.

I leave the small bag on the bed, following the three downstairs. I round the corner, seeing them all sitting and talking already.

I sigh, knowing that eventually this will be the situation between myself and Kakarot, soon enough, whether I want it or not.

I go to sit down, taking the only available seat next to Goten. I fold my arms and close my eyes, half listening to the conversation.

"I really am excited to spend a week with Vegeta. We're gonna get so much training done." I can practically hear Kakarot bouncing in his seat. I feel my ears heating up, but I stand before I can embarrass myself. I go to the pastries, still on the counter, and take one out. I've always had a weakness for sweets.

I feel a stare at the back of my head, but ignore it, knowing that whoever I'd see if I turn around is someone I wouldn't want staring at me.

I eat the rest of the sweet and walk with the half full box over to the counter under the cupboard. I instantly regret my decision, knowing I'd have to reach up or fly, and both of those things will be embarrassing.

But if I leave it there, it will be worse.

I peek back to see who's still staring at me, and I'm greeted with the wide, innocent eyes of Kakarot.

I sigh, floating to the cupboard and quickly placing the box where it should be. I drop down and cross my arms, refusing to turn around after doing something like that.

"Isn't that right, Vegeta?" My wife's voice sends hot ice through my body, and I stand deathly still.

"What was that?" I ask, still not turning.

"You'll give Goku a good run for his money in the gravity chamber, won't you?"

I can tell all four of them are staring at the back of my head. My face warms more, and I know that eventually I have to turn around. I furrow my brow and force the blood in my face back to where it belongs and turn around.

"Don't I always? He isn't as high and mighty as you think he is. More times than not, he breaks sweat before I do." I close my eyes and start for the stairs, "You two should be going now, right? You don't want to miss the ship."

The fading voice of my wife sounds as I take each step, "Oh, yeah. Okay, Chichi, you have everything? We're gonna go."

I close the bedroom door and sit on the bed, rubbing my forehead. I hear the front door close.

I'm alone with Kakarot and his son in my house. A tiny knock on my door.

"Daddy?"

Oh, my kids, too.

"Yes, princess, you can come in."

Bra opens the door, tiptoeing to keep hold of the handle, "Where's mommy going?"

I lift her up and sit her on my lap, "She's going away with Goten's mom for a little bit."

She nods her little head, the eyes at the small bag on the blanket.

"What's that for?" She points over to it.

"Well, I'm leaving with Goten's dad for the week. Me and your mother will be back around the same time."

"Who's gonna watch me and Trunksie?"

"Your grandmother."

"Oh. Well, I'm gonna wake Trunksie up, okay?" She hops off my lap, waddling out of the room.

"No, princess, wait until I leave, okay?"

Closing the door with her tiny fingers, she nods.

"Thank you, princess."

Once the door clicks closed, I check my bag one more time and head downstairs.

Still on the couch, Kakarot and Goten are speaking quietly, passing the time.

"Are you ready, idiot?"

Kakarot turns in his seat and smiles brightly at me, "Sure am!" He stands, patting Goten on the head, "You go get Trunks, kid. I'm leaving now. I'll be back in a week."

"Alright, dad!" Goten hops up and sprints up the stairs.

I place a stern hand on Kakarot's shoulder, "Go to Dende."

He nods, picking up his bags with one hand and putting the opposite to his forehead.

We appear on the white marble floor of the Lookout, the air suddenly thin in my lungs. I immediately let go of his shoulder and walk over to the little green boy not twenty feet away. I give him a small gesture as a greeting.

"I see you two are ready," His solemn voice came out calmly as he walked toward the large ornate door of the room, "I've stocked lots of food in there for you, but if you run out feel free to come out quickly and grab some more."

"I've brought some. We should be fine." I turn to show him the small bag against my back. He nods.

"Hey! Dende!"

I roll my eyes.

"How've ya been?" I hear his voice gradually closing in.

"I've been just fine, Goku, thank you," Dende grips his staff with both hands, "I trust you're ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be! Thanks a load, Dende!" Kakarot comes up beside me with his arms wide and his face smiling.

"Not a problem. Please, feel free to go in whenever you're ready. I'm afraid I have to tend to some business, but I'll be here when you come out."

Kakarot throws him a gesture and walks off in front of me. I follow far behind, not trying to seem too excited.

He opens the door, holding it open for me as I pass. I don't thank him.

Looking around, I notice the hot air and the blinding white of everything in the room, save for the beds on the right side, all black.

The deciding sound of the door closing echoes behind me, and light footsteps walk to the beds. I try not to look at him.

This is going to be a long seven years.


	6. Chapter 6

I turn the opposite way that Kakarot went, toward the kitchen and the bathroom.

Inside the bathroom is obviously a toilet, a huge corner tub, and a standing open shower. I sigh, making a mental note to always knock on the bathroom door, even if it's opened.

Everything is white, even the faucet to both of the sinks.

I shake my head at the big bathroom mirror, avoiding it entirely.

"Hey, Vegeta! These beds are really soft!" Kakarot shouts across the 'house' to me.

"Whatever," I shout back, closing the bathroom door as I leave it. Directly across from the bathroom door is the pantry, a wide open section of shelves containing jars, boxes, and cans. I rifle around in it, not finding anything interesting. I peek my head into the door to the immediate left, seeing a bunch of things from entertainment to workout gear.

I move to the kitchen, admiring how white everything is. I wonder if the faucet is made of porcelain as well, or if it's just the reflection of the room.

I smooth my hand over the cool surface of the refrigerator, admiring how it's so shiny I can see my own face.

I feel the marble counter top, noticing it's dusty texture. It's almost as if it was cut and immediately placed without being cleaned. I reach under the sink for a towel and wet it, wiping the counter to make sure.

The texture stays the same. I toss the towel in the sink, shrugging, and deciding to use it for dishes later on.

I have no choice now but to go to the beds. I see Kakarot has taken the bed closest to the door, so I take the other. As I unpack, I silently thank Dende for adding canopies for privacy. I shove the heavy fabric aside, tossing in the pack.

I take my boots off and set them neatly next to the bedside table before sitting in the center of the bed and taking the capsules out. I click the top of capsule number 07 and toss it to the end of the bed, watching my bags appear. I take the rest of the capsules and put them in the drawer next to my bed along with the extra loose things I put in the little bag.

I lay down, testing the softness of the pillows beneath me. I sigh, my muscles relaxing.

Kakarot pops his head in through the curtain, smiling. I frown deeply.

"Hey, 'Geeta!"

I fold an arm over my eyes, "Don't call me that."

"Sorry, anyway," He fits his whole body through, taking a seat across from me on the edge of my bed, "Can ya tell me more about the Saiyan thing?"

"What do you mean, Kakarot," I keep my voice monotone.

"Like, all the long life stuff and the immunity and all that junk," He crosses his legs and folds his hands in his lap, waiting patiently for me to respond.

I groan, sitting up and rubbing my eyes, "As far as I know, we don't start really aging until we're about eighty. I mean, aging like how humans would grow into their bodies and not look so awkward and gangly. At the moment, we're both in what would be the human equivalent of our late teens, I guess," I look up at him, seeing wide, curious eyes, "We stay young by fighting. Before Planet Vegeta was destroyed, warriors typically lived up to almost four-hundred. We never had an epidemic of any sickness, mostly because the more we fight, the stronger out immune system gets. I don't know much about the science, but I think it has to do with the blood pumping and movement."

Kakarot nods, listening intently. He cocks his head to the side slightly, biting his lower lip. I look away.

"I hope you realize that we're going to greatly outlive all of our families."

The statement leaves me abruptly, coming from nowhere. Suddenly Kakarot's shoulders slump a little. I frown.

"It's not something I'm excited for, obviously. But it really is inevitable."

He shrugs sadly, "It's gonna be okay, though. Because we're gonna have each other to keep company. We won't be completely alone," He looks up into my eyes, sad, "Will we?"

I get up, not willing to have this conversation any longer.

"You should eat something. I want you ready to fight with me in less than an hour," I sweep through the canopy, heading to the bathroom. Though I had showered just a few hours before, I undress and hop into the tub. I feel the need to relax.

I avoid the mirror again as I strip and grab a fluffy towel. While filling the tub I hear noise from just out the door. I know he's looking through the pantry, but I choose to ignore it.

Lowering into the scalding water, I hiss, but instantly feel my muscles relax. I lean back against the still cold wall of the tub. I close my eyes, relishing in the steaming water.

The door handle wiggles before it's thrown open to reveal Kakarot in only his boxers. He laughs and rubs his neck, grabbing a towel.

"I'm just gonna shower quick, 'Geeta," He turns to the bare wall where just the shower head and knob is mounted.

"No you're not, you idiot, I'm in here."

He waves his hand dismissively, studying the knob, "How do you work this thing?" He looks over to me, questioning. I cross my arms.

"I'm not getting out of here until you're out. And I'm sure as hell not gonna help you shower."

He shrugs, taking the knob in his hand and twisting it experimentally, "There's no reason for you to be self-conscious, Vegeta," Finally the water sprays out, landing on the floor in a splash and down the tiny drain. Kakarot steps out and holds his hand up, adjusting the temperature.

Somehow it didn't occur to me that Kakarot prefers his showers at any temperature. I close my eyes once he's satisfied, hooking a finger in the waistband of his boxers.

I refuse to open my eyes. I will not fall that low. But he knows I'd be able to see him if I choose not to close my eyes.

What did he mean, self-conscious?

Realization hits me and my face burns, I shove my head between my shoulders to cool the hotness of my ears.

Then he's singing, and I shut my eyes tighter. He kind of has a lovely voice.

This is the opposite of relaxing, but I can't get out without opening my eyes and getting out of the water.

With a big intake of breath, I turn my head and open my eyes, standing out of the tub. I close my eyes abruptly when presented with a glorious image of Kakarot's ass in the mirror. He addresses me and I plop back down into the water, avoiding his gaze as much as possible.

"Hey, Vegeta! Could you hand me that bottle over there?"

I turn my head away from the mirror and toward the little shelf next to the towel rack. I grasp blindly at the bottles, knocking all of them to the floor.

I can't reach any of them without my hips leaving the water now. I sigh and close my eyes again.

"Why don't you get them yourself?"

Kakarot pads over to the bottles, and I shoot up out of the water, running out of the bathroom at top speed. I slam the door shut before sprinting naked all the way to the cover of behind my bed.

I forgot my towel in the bathroom.

I power up a small bit to dry myself off and zip open my bags and throw on a suit before burrowing myself in the blankets. I blush furiously, the image of his muscular rear burned into my retina.

I smash a pillow onto my head, burying my shame and embarrassment.

I hear the bathroom door click open, and I push my head down further into the bed. I hear his heavy footsteps near his own bed and a rustle of the curtains moving aside.

I hear a slip of clothing, and I'm unsure if it's his towel falling to the floor or the sash of gi being tightened. I turn the opposite way, pushing the pillow down farther over my ears. I try to relax, the effect of my bath completely gone now and replaced by extreme anxiety. Even under the warm heavy blankets my skin feels cold. I huff my breath down into the comforter, trying to warm myself.

When that doesn't work I decide on making something warm to eat, but I refuse to leave this bed until Kakarot is out of sight. I just curl up into myself, hoping to disappear completely.

I feel a rush of panic as I realize that I am hiding myself away from someone of a lower class than myself. He may be physically stronger than me, but I refuse to let Kakarot get the best of me.

Taking a deep breath I scoot from my place on the bed out on the side facing Kakarot's bed. Again presented with a naked form, I rush past him quickly but confidently over to the kitchen. I pull open the fridge door, revealing all sorts of pre-made sandwiches and meals that are too small to ease the hunger of a Saiyan.

I grab a bunch of the meals and pop them into the microwave, one at a time and eat them as they come out.

Watching Kakarot out of the corner of my eye, I can see a blurry blob of orange, so I know it's safe to turn fully toward him. I shovel a spoonful of food into my mouth as he walks over, taking his own food from the fridge and leaning against the table.

"You seem quiet," I mention, shoving more food into my mouth.

With a mouthful of cold food, Kakarot shrugs and walks over to the pantry, "Am I? I didn't notice."

I shrug, feigning disinterest. I put another cold dinner in the microwave.

"Well, Vegeta, you seem pretty cool, since you ran out of the bathroom. You know we've seen each other naked before, right?" He turns around again, opening a box and pouring it into his mouth. I roll my eyes.

"Maybe if you stopped trying to see me naked," I take the package out of the microwave and open it, "Then you wouldn't have trouble training, hm?" I shovel some food into my mouth, raising my eyebrows at him.

I turn and toss all of the empty meals into the trash at the end of the counter, leaving Kakarot with a dropped jaw and unfinished food.

I pull my boots on and crack my neck, relishing in the feeling of the gravity as I step down the marble steps into the oblivion of the time chamber.

I turn and hold my arms wide in challenge, "Well, Kakarot? Are you ready?"

Kakarot drops his food onto the table, walking steadily toward me with a determined expression. I back away in jumps, coaxing him further out with every step. He chuckles, springing into the air.

Our spar has begun.

I jet forward, avoiding his downward kick by a narrow margin. I back flip and smash my heel right into his nose. Kakarot doubles over, holding his face. I place my fists on either hip, looking down at him with disapproval.

"You're already slacking and we've barely started. We both know you can do better."

Kakarot slowly stands, leaving the blood in his nose to freely pour down his face. I smirk, "If you can beat me I'll do laundry," As soon as I finish the phrase I regret it, knowing the idiot has no idea how to do laundry.

I'm either going to be a housemaid, or Kakarot is gonna blow something up or some stupid shit.

He nods happily, crimson blood dripping onto the white floor. I glance at it, and lower into my stance. Kakarot nods, moving into his own position.

I shove Kakarot's blood-soaked gi into the washer with nothing else. I don't want my own clothing covered in his blood. Tossing the little soap packet in, I close the lid and press the button to start it.

Wiping my hands, I walk back into the main room, my bed is practically calling to me.

I had sparred with Kakarot all day, and now my exhausted body is craving rest.

He's already in his own bed, snoring loudly. I know I won't be able to get to sleep with that noise going on, so I scowl and shove his curtains aside.

Apparently Kakarot likes to sleep in nothing but his boxers, but I ignore that fact as I not so gently rip his blanket from under him and cover his body with it after straightening him out. I lift his head far higher than necessary and put a few pillows under it.

His snoring gives way into small sighs and I wipe my forehead, closing his curtains again.

I go around to the other side of my bed and undress, making a mental note to wash my suit along with all the other laundry. I pull on loose shorts and a big old t-shirt, sliding into bed all comfortably. I try hard to force myself asleep, but the memories of the uncomfortably intimate day with Kakarot haunt my mind and force me to think about the way his hips moved in the split second I saw them naked.

The way the blood dripping off of his face made him look like something in a dream.

How when we were finished sparring he ripped his shirt off and tossed it over to me, smiling brightly.

I rub my cheeks and nuzzle my head down into my pillows, giving into the childish feelings in hopes to make myself feel sick enough that I die.

Oh.

I frown and turn onto my side, curling my knees all the way up to my chest. I sigh.

I can't let Kakarot get the best of me.

But, with the soft noises coming from the other bed I can't help to blush deeper and resist the urge to hop out of bed and slide in with that idiot.

Again, I feel guilty, falling in love with him, but he gets the best of me.


	7. Chapter 7

I wake freezing cold. I tuck my legs into my chest and shiver, looking around for my blanket.

It's on the floor, along with the idiot with his. I groan and reach my freezing leg down to stomp on his chest, hard. He sits up with a start, looking around with messy hair and a flushed face.

"Give me my fucking blanket, Kakarot," He's laying there, confused and curled up into a nest with both blankets.

"Wuh?"

I sigh, exasperated, and rip a comforter out from under him. He knocks his head on the floor and I hold back a chuckle.

"That wasn't very nice," He complains, but I just turn over and cover myself, relishing in the already warm blanket.

Kakarot's scent hits my nostrils and I recoil, wanting to run away from it and roll in it at the same time. I feel my face heat up, and I dash out of bed into the bathroom, my bare feet slapping against the kitchen floor.

I slam the door shut and stare at my face in the mirror.

I scowl, running my hands over the pink cheeks.

I pull my gloves off and wash the sweat from my palms and splash the cold water over my face and neck, hoping to calm the redness down.

Why does his smell, of all things, do this to me? This is Kakarot... I can't let him get to me.

He's a third class... He doesn't deserve my time, let alone my admiration. I groan while drying my hands and pulling my gloves back on. Even in my head I'm still pretending.

Leaving the bathroom, I decide to make myself some cereal. I go through the motions while calming down, yawning and stretching whatever arm I'm not using. Kakarot is still sleeping on the floor, a black lump moving up and down with his breathing. I shake my head as I munch on my cereal, trying not to find him adorable.

It doesn't work, of course. All I can see of him is the tips of his toes and a bit of his hair sticking out everywhere. I brush my hands together and walk back over to my bedside table. My feet find their way into my ratty socks and new boots.

Walking out to the abyss, I see the weather fades into a tundra the farther back you go, and I assume that this is the cause of my being freezing, aside from my blanket being stolen. I step out, feeling my weight increase slightly with the multiplied gravity.

Kicking and punching against the resistance of the gravity, I find myself wishing I had something rock solid to punch. Something like Kakarot.

Sighing, I touch back down onto the floor and march into the housing area, kicking Kakarot awake. He starts again, sitting up abruptly and squinting up at me with tired eyes.

"Wake up, we're sparring."

He yawns, stretching his arms way above his head. I scowl as I notice the tips of his fingers reach my neck while he's just sitting.

I walk away, frustrated, "Get dressed and meet me outside," I step back down into the training area, resuming the useless training.

A few minutes later, Kakarot walks out, only dressed in his gi, hair still messy and feet still bare. He waves over to me, covering his mouth in a yawn. I touch down, scoffing, "Are you not going to take things seriously today, Kakarot? You're so lazy."

"No, Vegeta," He yawns again, "I notice by watching you fight that you tend to stay back when you can and use ki blasts. I thought that maybe we could train each other because I'm the opposite."

"Oh, using your brains, huh, Kakarot?" I cross my arms and give him a side eye.

He shrugs, cocking his head to the side dismissively, "It was just a thought."

I scoff, "You have those?"

He shrugs again lowering into an offensive position, leaning in such a way that his openings are covered, "I guess so. Are we gon' spar now?"

I lower down with him, smirking, "Of course."

We pounce into a fight at the same instant, dodging each other and landing on the opposite side.

Kakarot blinks slowly, fighting off sleep, "Geeta, I'm still really tired. Can I sleep some more?"

"Absolutely not, Kakarot. You said you'd help me in hand-to-hand, and I expect you to keep that promise. So wake the fuck up and fight me," I lower back down and glower, waiting for him to initiate the fight again.

He lunges, and I dodge his first punch, blocking the second. I grasp his fist and run under his uplifted arm, coming at him from behind and landing a solid elbow to his lower back. He arches, gasping for breath. I release his hand, letting him gain his composure. He turns, baring his teeth and grasping my shoulders, flipping over me and using his momentum to bring me over his head and smash me onto the ground. I feel a stinging pain in my nose, but ignore it. I lean my head up and see fresh blood smears next to brown oxidized ones.

Kakarot's blood mixed with mine, creating a heady smell of each of us. I groan with a combination of aching and want. I tuck my head into my chest, all but screaming.

"Vegeta?" Kakarot places a hand on my shoulder. I can't bring myself to shake it off.

I keep yelling.

"I didn't mean to hurt ya that much, 'Geeta. Here, let me help you up," He pulls my arm from under me, holding onto my wrist as he hoists me from the floor.

I chuckle when I see my own blood in my periphery under my nose, dripping into my mouth. I taste the iron as I spring onto Kakarot, hitting him over and over with a barrage of punches to his face. He takes it like a champ, only hissing when my fist makes solid contact with anything around his eyes. He's on his back, his head thrashing every which way with every hit I put him through.

Blood sprays from his mouth and nose, his head flying up at a strange angle, then he lie still. I pause for a moment before cold fire flies to my nerve endings and I panic, tossing him over my shoulder, and running back into the housing area.

I've killed the damn idiot.

I throw him onto the floor and print to the pantry where I saw a jar of senzu beans. I grab one and rush back over to Kakarot.

He's sitting up and chuckling to himself, staring at me over his shoulder.

"I thought you wanted to kill me, 'Geeta. Why'd ya panic that bad, huh?" He rubs his tricep with the other, smiling brightly.

"You really thought you snapped my neck, huh? You should know I don't go down that easy, haha!" He closes his eyes and leans back on his elbows, laughing quietly to himself.

"Anyway, 'Geeta, you're covered in blood. You should really get cleaned up."

I stand there, useless and staring. I feel relieved and furious simultaneously. Relieved because Kakarot survived, and furious because he survived.

He gets up and strolls over to me casually, grabbing me by my wrist and pulling me gently into the bathroom.

Kakarot guides me down to take a seat on the toilet seat cover, grasping my shoulders. I stare at his neck.

I motions for me to stay put before leaning down for a washcloth to dampen.

I watch him as he turns the water knob and holds his finger under the stream to test the temperature. I feel like I'm being cared for genuinely, for the first time in a very long time.

He turns to me with a concerned smile. I watch closely as his hand comes near my face, turning it from side to side to inspect the damage. All of me is screaming to back away from his touch, but my body refuses to cooperate.

His other hand comes slow to my chin, gently washing away the dried blood.

He gradually works his way up to my broken nose, barely touching my face.

I feel frustrated with the unnecessary gentle way his hands move over my skin, but I can't bring myself to insult him because his worried eyes scanning over my damaged, bloody face and his careful hands steal my breath and I'm left blankly staring at him.

For someone as old as he is, even for a Saiyan he looks young. His plump cheeks stick out quite a bit from the sharp curve of his chin, and his eyes hold so much sickening innocence I find it hard to hurt him sometimes.

I am ashamed at my lack of resolve, and how even his tiny smile makes me pause for a moment.

Kakarot backs away from me, inspecting my face. He decides one spot needs to be touched up, but I find the strength to back away before he can reach me.

"Kakarot, I'm just fine. Stop."

He pouts a little, slowly putting the cloth down.

"You're not even clean yet," He sticks out his lower lip, trying to make me concede.

"I don't care, Kakarot, you're filthy, too, you know. Maybe you should clean yourself and leave me alone for a bit, huh?"

I stand a leave the room, refusing to listen to his banter anymore.

I change myself and fix up the laundry, pulling out Kakarot's slightly stained gi. The usual fluorescent orange is dulled in the front and the dark blue looks a little more purple than before. I sigh and toss it in the washer, not wanting to inspect Kakarot's clothes anymore.

I peel my spandex off and toss it in the washer to be cleaned later. I stroll to my own bed, half naked, and dress myself in casual clothes, assuming Kakarot wont want to train any more for the day.

While crouching to get a pair of sweatpants, I peer at the little bag I brought the capsules in.

The deep blue bag is hard to see in the dark, but the red fabric sticking out of it attracts my eye.

I hear the shower start in the bathroom.

I have a little time.

I reach under the bed and pull the bag out, dumping its contents onto the bed. My cape unfurls and reveals the lockbox, the capsule packs, and an extra pair of starch white gloves.

I pull one of my gloves off and feel the plush fur of the collar, a typical white one with little black spots here and there.

All the years I've had the thing, it's still the softest material I've ever touched. In a burst of reminiscing, I swing it over my shoulders and tie the little strings in a bow. I feel the familiar weight of it covering my entire body. I waltz around a small bit to feel the air billow under near my back. I feel my posture improve immediately, my confidence in my role as King reigniting as I run a light hand over the marble counter top.

I look at my reflection in the refrigerator door, being proud of my appearance for once. I hear the shower stop, but the lack of sound doesn't register until Kakarot is opening the bathroom door. I whip around, shocked into motionlessness. Kakarot turns from the bathroom and stares at me, clutching onto the towel wrapped around his waist.

"Vegeta?"

His voice brings me back into consciousness, and I sprint over to my bed, my cape untying and thumping to the floor loudly.

Kakarot's confused voice floats over to me as I watch him bend over and pick up my cape, still holding his towel together.

"Vegeta? What's this?"

I snatch the cape from him as soon as he's within arms reach, "Get dressed, you idiot!"

He shrugs and calmly walks over to his own bed, dropping his towel onto the floor.

"So what're ya doin', Vegeta? Is that a blanket or somethin'?"

"No! Idiot!" I shove the cape into the folds of my canopy.

"Then what're ya _doin_?" He asks again as he peers around the corner, pulling a t-shirt over his head.

"It's my cape God damn it! Why do you care so much?" I shove him back by his shoulders.

"I don't. You just seemed real upset when I saw you."

I sit down onto my bed, feeling the red fabric between my fingers, "It's none of your business anyway, Kakarot."

He sweeps the curtains aside, revealing his fully dressed form, "All I'm sayin' is that it looked nice on you, if ya let me get a word out."

I shove him away again, face heating, "Shut up!"

I hear him sit on his own bed, probably pulling on a pair of socks.

"How long have you had it?"

I know his questions are coming from nothing but curiosity, but I panic a little anyway. I've had it longer than you'd believe, Kakarot.

"Once I was big enough to wear it, about nineteen." I finger the fabric again.

"You're a few years older than me, aren't ya?" I hear his feet hit the floor and walk over to the kitchen area.

"I'd say so," I grow annoyed, wanting to not talk about age at all.

"I was twenty four when you landed, I remember because I had Gohan with Chi when I was twenty," He comes back into my canopy with a tall stack of the frozen dinners, dumping them onto the bed and opening them, eating them frozen with a little fork he held in one hand.

I grimace, "I hope you don't expect me to condone this."

He looks up, his mouth full, "Hmm?"

I shake my head, ignoring him, "Twenty is a bit young for a kid, isn't it?"

He shrugs, swallowing.

"I don't think so. Gohan had Pan when he was twenty four. Geez, I got married when I was sixteen."

"Sixteen?! Dende, Kakarot, how did that happen?"

I'm too taken aback to keep my fake persona of annoyance. It feels good to let go every once in a while.

"I met Chi when I was 12, so we knew each other for a while before being married. Her dad was really excited for us to get hitched. He actually ran through a burning building just so we could."

"That's the Ox King, right?" I sit up and cross my legs, pulling my cloak out from under me.

"Yeah, he's a real nice guy. He always gets lots and lots of stuff for the boys and Pan when it's their birthdays. Anyway, we hadn't seen each other for four years, and then we met at the World Martial Arts Tournament, and she got real mad at me because I had promised to make her 'my bride' but when I was little I didn't understand what it meant."

I nod, following his fast words with interest.

"But then after we fought, she explained to me that I promised to marry her, and I felt so bad about not keeping the promise that we practically got married on the spot."

I lean forward, peering into the emptying container, "So you married her out of obligation? Because you made a promise?"

He nods, swallowing another mouthful, "I guess so, but I do love her,"

My heart sinks a little.

"But over the years, she really has started to age. I'm surprised she let me leave."

"She doesn't know, Kakarot."

"Oh, yeah. I guess she wouldn't have been okay with it, huh? I kind of feel bad for lying to her."

I uncross my legs and take his empty containers over to the garbage, tossing them in with little ceremony. I come back and assume my previous position.

"So you don't like that she's aged?"

He shrugs, "I don't know, I don't think it's necessarily the fact that she's old, but she doesn't have the endurance she used to, it's really no fun."

"You and Chichi are the same age, aren't you?" I pull the cape out and cover my legs with it, becoming chilly.

"Yeah, but, like you said, we don't age for a long time. She's just a human."

Hearing Kakarot use terms to describe humans as if they are different for once, makes me proud. He's finally accepting that he's different.

"So what do you mean by 'endurance'?" I run a thumb over the velvet.

He glances up at me, face reddening, "You know, like, stuff. It's no fun when, you know."

His sudden shyness tips me off on his meaning and I nod in agreement, "Humans are no fun because we can't let go. It's normal to not be satisfied with her."

He looks up again, despite his shameless blushing.

"You have the same problem?"

I shrug, shy myself, "I guess so, my goal with Bulma was to have children, to extend the bloodline, you know?"

"You married Bulma out of obligation, then?"

I shake my head at his misunderstanding, "No, not exactly. It was more of the fact that she was a strong human, and I knew she would be able to go through the childbirth without having much trouble. I knew I could trust her with my children, regardless of the half-human in them."

Kakarot nods, silent. I continue.

"That's why we eloped. We didn't have a big party purely because I told her I didn't want one. She wanted to get married before having kids, and that's purely why I allowed any sort of legal connection between us."

I pause, ashamed at my own words, "I do love my children, but more and more I wonder if they were worth it. Worth marrying her, I mean."

Kakarot looks at me, puzzled, "Are you saying you don't love her?"

I shook my head, closing my eyes, "I don't really know, Kakarot. She cares for me and provides for me, but I don't know if I can truthfully say that I could or would do the same for her. It's a complicated relationship, if you can call it that. I see her as more of a close friend than my wife."

He nods, opening another container, "I get ya. I guess I just feel guilty, ya know? Neither of us feel any sort of, I don't know, romantic connection, I guess."

I hoist my cape over my shoulders, covering my entire front, "You're so articulate, aren't you?"

He shrugs, taking the last bite of food and sliding out of my bed. I hear him pad over to the garbage can.

I lay back down, turning onto my side. Soon, he pokes his head back in.

"I thought we were done talking about our wives," I open my eyes and give him a strange look.

"We are. But I like talking to you when you aren't being mean." He crawls in and sits cross-legged at the end of the bed, careful not to get too close to me. Part of me is flattered that he is sensitive about my discomfort with physical contact, but at the same time I want him to shamelessly curl up beside me and talk about my eternal life and my previous friends and how the Collaborators locked me away.

I want to talk to him about all of these things, but all I get out is, "Don't get used to it."

He shrugs sadly, putting his head in his hand.


	8. Chapter 8

I sigh, sitting back up.

"Alright, Kakarot, what do you want to talk about, while I'm in a good mood?"

His head pops back up, excited, "Well, actually, I kinda want to talk about you."

"What do you mean?" I smooth my hair back and scratch the side of my neck nervously.

"Like," He waves his hands around in front of his torso, "Like, what you like and what you are as a person and not a fighter. I've always wanted to know."

I lay back down with a huff, already not wanting this conversation to be a part of me.

"I guess, I don't know, that I'm pretty complicated? I don't know Kakarot, what do you want to know?"

He shrugs, dipping his head way low into his shoulders, "I dunno. Everything. I don't really feel like your best friend because I only know the warrior side of you. So anything that doesn't have to do with fighting. Tell me why you never take your gloves off."

I shake my head and shift my cape again, consciously feeling the brush of my gloves against the skin of the back of my hand," I guess they're a safety blanket. I've been without them, of course. But when they're off I don't feel safe."

"Is it because your hands get cold? I know I hate it when my hands are cold."

I shrug at his half-assed interpretation, "I don't know, but I try not to take them off because I get really anxious. I don't know what to do with my hands when they're not covered."

Kakarot nods, understanding, "Ah. I get ya. But, Vegeta, you know you can take them off in front of me? I'm not gonna judge you or whatever you're afraid of."

"I'm not afraid of being judged, I don't think," I sit back up, inspecting my hands. "It's just that no one hardly sees me without them. My hands feel like something private to me."

Kakarot grasps one of my hands in both of his, squeezing it tightly.

"Vegeta, you can trust me. I want you to trust me."

I give him a strange look, weakly trying to pull my hand away. He won't budge. "Kakarot, what are you doing?"

"Please, Vegeta, trust me enough to at least see your hands. I don't think I've ever seen them bare."

I consider it for a moment before reluctantly nodding.

Kakarot beams at me and begins to work up on the fabric encasing my pinky. The feeling of someone else removing my gloves for me is foreign. The usual snugness is replaced by an uncomfortable blousy feeling as Kakarot begins to work on my other fingers.

He removes the glove with care. All slow and attentive. Finally the glove falls limp in his hand.

He sets it down gently onto the bed as he grasps my hand again. The feeling of someone else's skin touching my hands feels so strange.

Bulma tried to get me to hold her hand a few times, but I never liked the feeling of her bare skin on mine, especially on my hands, so I essentially told her to fuck off.

But with Kakarot oh so tenderly holding onto my hand, rubbing the tips of his fingers over my rough callouses and over the sensitive palm...

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable at the intimacy, my wrist flexes, and Kakarot responds by backing away and being more gentle than before.

I sigh as I let him continue, becoming accustomed to the light tickle of his gentle fingers.

He leans over, placing the palm of my hand over his face to cup his cheek. I stare up at him, unsure of how to proceed.

I could pull away and end the conversation forcefully, but I could also continue to appreciate the soft skin under my thumb.

I take a deep breath and press my fingers ever so slightly harder into Kakarot's face, watching as his expression changes from curiosity to serenity. He closes his eyes and presses closer into my hand.

I frown slightly and move my fingers minutely.

He opens his eyes again, his face immediately gaining color. He stutters out an apology.

"It's fine, Kakarot."

He removes my hand from his face, hurriedly putting my glove back on my hand, but upside down, so my thumb tries to shove its way into where the pinky goes. I shake my head at his silliness and erect his mistake. Out of the corner of my eye I watch him watch me as I flip my glove into the correct position and slide my fingers into place.

"S-sorry again, Vegeta, I didn't mean to, uhm..."

"I said it's fine, Kakarot. You can trust me too, you know," I smile at him small, letting him know he can relax.

He fixes his posture as he looked at me, puzzled, "You act different when in here than around the others. Why is that, 'Geeta?"

I shake my head, closing my eyes again, "Bulma made me go in here because she wants me to give you a chance to not think of you as an annoying child. I'm doing my best to make sure that happens. Believe it or not, Kakarot, I don't essentially hate you."

"Really?" His voice is filled with hope and excitement. It depresses me.

"Yes. I find you more of a bother than anything. But in casual conversation, you are bearable. I suggest you don't fuck it up, or I might come out legitimately hating you instead of just being uncomfortable around you."

He nods quickly, his hands falling loosely into his lap.

"But that doesn't mean censor yourself. If I'm going to hate you I want to hate you for a good reason."

He nods shyly, taking my hand again and taking the glove back off. "You're hands are nice, Vegeta."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

He smiles, still gazing at my hand, "I don't know, really. They're really nice to look at, I guess. Okay, look," He turns my palm toward me running a finger along the big fold lines in the center, "Everyone has these, right? But I learned something from Baba. That's Master Roshi's sister. She told me that the lines all have a different meaning. I think they were, uh..."

He drops my hand to gaze at his own, trying to remember something that he hadn't thought of in a long time. He grasps my hand again and runs a finger across the center of my palm, "This is the wisdom line, I think. Baba told me that if it's really long, it means you're super nice and considerate and all that junk, did you know that?"

He traced up and down my wisdom line, waiting for an answer.

"I didn't know that, Kakarot."

He smiles, ready to teach me something interesting, "See how yours goes to only your ring finger? That's a medium line. It means you're smart. Look," He holds his own hand up, showing me how his own line ends, "Mine is really long, huh? it goes across my entire hand, almost."

"That's very interesting, Kakarot."

He nods happily, taking my hand again.

He probably spent an hour ranting about hand lines, comparing ours and explaining their meanings. He would look up every once in a while and smile at me for a few seconds, getting off track of the topic at hand.

Every once in a while he would ask me a question, and I would respond shortly, wanting to get back to the lesson.

If someone told me I would be sitting on a bed that was not my own, having my vice fondle my hands and tell me all about my own personality, then I would have called them crazy.

But here I am, watching as Kakarot blathers away about my hands, pointing out even the tiniest lines that even I hadn't noticed before.

"So, Vegeta, did I say anything that was right?"

I nodded, "All of it, actually. This is very impressive, Kakarot."

His chest swells with pride as he smiles widely at me. I smile back, only lifting one side of my mouth.

"Oh! I forgot one of the most important ones! Anyway, look," He presses a finger into the line curving around my thumb, becoming excited.

"I don't know if these ones are the same for Saiyans, because we live a long time, but this is the life line, and it pretty much tells you how long you're gonna live."

I cringe, trying not to let panic take hold of my body, "That's interesting, Kakarot. I guess we'll find out, won't we?"

He nods fast, tracing mine up and down.

"See how yours is really pink looking and swings wide from your thumb?"

I nod.

"That means that you're really healthy, and super energetic and good at sports. But, oh, look at this," He moves lower and fingers across a line just under and parallel to the one before. "This means you are full of life and energy and positivity."

I nod again, trying to see his own life line, but failing.

The rest of his words are fuzzy as I suddenly remember that I love him.

It comes from nothing, but my mind screams over and over that this idiot is the most precious thing I've ever laid my eyes on.

I've had this feeling before, but most of the time it was immediately after meeting someone.

This feeling for Kakarot is deep and seems innate, almost. I had spent all these years with him and tried to ignore that I hitched a breath when he would smile and when his bangs fell in his face.

I watch his mouth move, the words still not breaking my conscious. He looks up and me and keeps talking while giving my a smile filled with bright teeth. I close my eyes, the stimulation too much for me to handle with them open.

My hand is burning, his skin against mine causing fire to dance across it.

I look up into his eyes, but quickly look away as I get the urge to lunge at him.

He hold up his own palm, and suddenly his words are clearer.

"Mine is all broken up in places, and I think that means I'm gonna get sick or something. It's really weird, you know, because when I had that heart virus I almost died, remember, Veg? That was pretty scary."

I nod, flashbacks of that day play in my mind.

My future son had come to tell us of the dangers we would soon face. He also told us that Kakarot was supposed to die.

When the day came that he got sick, there was no question in my mind that I had to get away. That was the most anxiety I've ever felt in such a sort period of time.

But when he got better, I was able to breathe again.

Kakarot shakes my hand to get my attention. I look over at a smiling face.

"You seem tired."

I nod my head.

"Are you hungry?"

I nod again. He slides out of the bed without another word and jogs to the kitchen, grabbing quick things that don't need to be cooked. He opens them and hands them to me one at a time.

I thank him quietly as I lay back down. He tells me to sleep well.

He covers me up, then slides quietly out from the curtains, the ruffling sound of his own opening and closing filling my ears.

I love him.

the words ring in my mind over and over.

I love him. I love him. I love him.

I find myself unable to fall asleep.

I slide out of my own bed and into his, lifting up the cover to lay down.

The bed is big enough that I don't have to get too close to him. But I want to.

I lay on my side, gazing at him.

Fuck, he's not asleep.

He's looking up to the ceiling of the canopy, but I know he's seen me. He holds out the hand closest to me, offering.

I take it.

I see his smile widen. Mine does too.

He turns toward me, our arms parallel, in a more comfortable position.

"Please go to sleep," He says, squeezing my hand all tight. I nod and close my eyes, the weight of his hand in mine helping me relax.

I sit up again, pulling my gloves off and setting them behind me. Kakarot has one eye peered open, smirking.

I lay back down and take my spot again, fully relaxing.

"Night, Veg."

"Mnn."


	9. Chapter 9

I wake up warm and happy.

The spot next to me is empty, but the comforter covering me is tucked all around tight, and the musky smell of Kakarot lingers on the pillow my head rests on. I sigh happily.

Kakarot pokes his head in, smiling.

"Let's skip training today."

I turn over to him, scowling, "You always want to slack off, don't you?"

He shrugs and fully enters to canopy, holding a steaming mug in his hands, "I guess so. Training isn't really as fun as hanging out with you is. Besides, we're not in here to train. We're in here to get to know each other."

I shrug and eye him, "Coffee is awful for you, you know that, right?"

He shakes his head and sips on it, bringing the mug back into his curled hands.

"It's really cold out in the training area, so I made cocoa," He takes another drink, "Do you want some? I just made it, it's still hot."

I nod slowly as he laughs, sliding out of bed and fetching a cup. I plop my head back down onto the pillow beneath me, letting the smell of him puff everywhere and surround me. I close my eyes and try to push my body further into it. I take my gloves from the table, slipping them on for a bit of extra comfort. Kakarot pokes his head back in and smiles at me.

I feel my face heat up as I take the mug from him, letting the warm liquid fill my mouth and warm me further.

Kakarot sits down next to me, the both of us silently drinking.

At this moment, I feel more content than I ever have. Free from judgement and expectations. Just Kakarot and myself, I know that I don't have to act anymore. I smile into my cocoa and close my eyes.

"I knew it."

My eyes open, "Hmm?"

Kakarot holds his cup between his crossed legs, his hands covering the top, "I knew you didn't hate me. I just knew it."

"And how is that, Kakarot?" I set my own cup down.

"I just had a feeling, deep in my gut that it was all an act. That every nasty thing you said to me you didn't mean, and that you didn't mind being around me. Or, even at times, you wanted to be around me. That you saw me as an equal, a friend."

He takes a sip.

"I don't know, Vegeta, I don't know how I knew."

He leaves with his mug in his hand.

I shake my head and lay back down, staring at the fabric above my head. I imagine him coming back and laying down with me, talking about something dumb, like how sometimes, on the ground, you can kind of see how far up a cloud is.

If it's low enough.

A few minutes later I heard water run. It was a heavy sound, so I knew he was taking a shower or bath.

Suddenly I feel dirty. It's been a full day since my last cleaning, and even that was incomplete.

I long to intrude and go bathe myself, but I decide to wait my turn. The possibility of making the situation awkward is petrifying.

I wait and wait, listening for the sound of the shower to cease. Once it does, I stand and make my way to the bathroom, stopping along the way by the kitchen for a drink of water. I'm uncharacteristically nervous. I sigh and set the wet glass down for another use before washing it.

Kakarot strolls out of the bathroom, holding his towel up in his large fist. He smiles at me as he passes, heading straight for his canopy and dressing. I go into the bathroom and set aside a towel for myself and draw a bath.

While it's filling, I strip down out of my soiled clothes and toss them in the hamper in the corner of the room by the sink.

I ease into the scalding water, hoping to burn the first few layers of tainted skin off of my body. I usually take baths instead of showers because I don't like taking my gloves off, but, gazing at my covered hands, I decide to unsheathe them this time. My conversation about hand lines last night with Kakarot made my hands feel less foreign to me. I do not dip them in the water for a long time, though. The water is too hot, and I'm afraid of washing off any remnants of skin-to-skin contact. I sigh, enjoying the steaming heat until a knock at the door sounds.

"Come in."

I'm impressed with his thoughtfulness. The door cracks open and Kakarot waves a hand to get my attention.

"Is it safe?"

"Yes, Kakarot, I said you can come in."

He steps through he door and sits on the toilet seat cover, about eight feet away from the tub.

"What is it?" I ask, closing my eyes and sinking deeper into the tub.

"I was thinking that instead of beating each other up for training today we could do some yoga. I know you don't like to do nothing, so maybe doing something relaxing would be a good break."

I open my eyes and peer at him, noticing that he's eyeing my gloves on the floor. I nod, "That doesn't sound like a bad idea. But I've never done anything more advanced than mountain pose. You'll have to teach me."

"Vegeta, mountain pose is just standing up straight."

"Exactly."

"Oh, okay. Uhm, I have some music to play if you want some, and I think there's Yoga mats in the closet next to the pantry."

"That sounds just fine, Kakarot. I'm almost done here, so why don't you go set that up while I get dried off." I close my eyes again.

"Okay, It should be ready when you're out." I hear him stand and make his way to the door. He pauses there, turning, but says nothing and leaves.

I sigh, the lukewarm water dripping off my body as I stand. I reach for my towel and wrap it around my waist. I use a bit of internal energy to dry myself off for the most part. I stroll out of the bathroom, gloves in my hand.

I glace out to the oblivion and see Kakarot with a small touch screen player and two grey mats sitting in the floor. He's in sweatpants and nothing else, so I decide it's probably a smart idea to do the same. Dressing, I notice that the oblivion is back to it's normal temperature. I grin, setting my gloves on my bed and going back outside in bare feet and hands.

I sit on the mat opposite Kakarot's and he opens his eyes, smiling at me before hitting the play button, filling the empty space with soft piano music.

"Tadasana." He says. I stand with my heels together and my palms open at my sides. Kakarot smiles.

"So you know the technical terms, too?"

I nod halfheartedly, "Only the one." He laughs.

"Let's start with Bālāsana. It's also called Childs Pose. It's not hard. Just go into fetal position, but on your face."

I chuckle at his description as he lowers into the position, with his legs tucked underneath him as he's facing the ground with his arms stretched way out.

As I copy him he breaths deeply, and I hear a few pops and cracks come from his back.

"It's important to stretch out your back and shoulder muscles before doing yoga, because lots of it is core strength and you don't wanna cramp up."

"Where did you learn all this stuff?"

"I told you yesterday. Fortuneteller Baba."

"I doubt that old hag does yoga."

He laughs, letting out a few more pops, "She doesn't. She spent most of my lessons yelling at me and telling to move my feet this or that way. She was a terrible teacher, looking back on it. But it was easy enough to get into because it's so relaxing. And then I borrowed a few of Gohan's books on it and we kind of worked on it together. It made Chi happy to see that I wasn't putting him in dangers way, so she let it go."

"So you taught yourself?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"You're smarter than I give you credit for." My back cracks one by one down my spine.

"I don't get that a lot, thank you. Also, try not to cross your arms as much anymore, it curves your back inward and it's bad for overhead lifting. That's why you're cracking so much."

"Huh." My tailbone pops deep in my back and I wince. Maybe I should take his advice.

"Okay, now slowly lift up. Keep your back straight, that's it, and push your fingers as high as you can get them."

I come up a few seconds after him, processing his instructions. We're a few feet apart, my eyes level with his chest. I feel my face redden as I gaze at the smooth muscled skin, and I close my eyes.

He gets up and kneels behind me, running a single finger up my spine.

"Don't overextend the posture of your back, okay? That's just as bad as slouching. Just straighten up, that's it. There you go. Doesn't that feel better?"

His voice so close to me, it makes me half uncomfortable and half euphoric. I sigh and relax a small bit.

"Yeah, it does."

He pats my shoulder and squats deep over his mat. "Let's do Mālāsana now. Squat, just like me."

"Okay..." I examine his legs and the position of his feet and symmetrically across from him.

"Okay, put your hands together and push your legs apart with your elbows. Feel that stretch? It shouldn't hurt."

I nod again, unable to tear my eyes away from the healthy bulge between his legs.

"If you need to loosen the stretch a little you can put your arms at a bit of an angle so you don't overextend your inner thigh muscles."

He demonstrates, closing his legs slightly, making me lose my wonderful view.

"You really are a lot smarter than I thought."

"No, I just know things that you don't. Just like you know things that I don't."

I nod, "I guess so. What's the other name for this one?"

"Garland pose."

I nod again, unsure of how to react to his bountiful knowledge of all these obscure things.

"So, Kakarot. Why did you do yoga with the hag anyway?"

He smiles and chuckles to himself, looking back on memories, "Roshi always had pilates videos playing, and I was less interested in the girls and more interested in the 'training', and I asked him about it. He told me that Baba could teach me something similar, and as a kid I would take whatever I could get. So I went and I wasn't really into her teaching methods, so to speak. But she did teach me other things too."

"Like what?"

He stands and stretches his arms way above his head. I do the same.

"Acupuncture, massage therapy, aromatherapy, spiritual cleansing stuff like that. And a few other little odds and ends. I didn't spend much time there so I ended up teaching myself most of this stuff, but she did give me a nice solid start." He chuckles to himself, "She can be abrasive at times, but she's very smart."

"What odds and ends?" I bend to touch my toes.

"The arts, mostly. Painting, drawing, sculpting. They are actually considered spiritual to an extent also. That may be why I'm so calm within myself, because I practice all these things and it's relaxing."

I shoot up, "You can draw?"

He shifts his other arm above his head and pouts, "Don't move so quick, you'll cramp up. But yes, I can. Not too well, though."

I roll up my mat and prop it against the marble stairs.

He shouts after me, "Where are you going?"

"Come in here!"

He follows me in, putting his mat in the same spot I did. I dig under my bed for my bag, and pull out the leather bound notebook I hopelessly use to sketch in. I hand it to him, along with a pen.

"Can you show me?"

He takes it from me, skeptical. "My drawing?"

I nod fervently.

"I dunno, Veg. The things I draw sometimes are kind of..." He searches for a word, "Strange."

I shake my head, "It doesn't matter, I'm sure yours are better than mine."

"Vegeta, I mean, my art is pretty okay, but I don't really think it's something you want to see. That and I've never drawn without a model."

"A model?" I shove my bag back deep under my bed.

He nods, flipping through the used pages, "Yeah, someone that sits still for an hour or two while I sketch or draw them," He fiddles with the pen. "Do you have any art pencils?"

I shrug. "There's regular pencils in the bedside tables."

"That'll probably be better."

I go to fetch the pencil, "So what, you draw people?"

He nods. "Typically, yes. I find people to be fun to draw, even though it's hard and frustrating. They're more fluid than fruit or pottery."

"I can model for you." I hand him the pencil and sit down next to him.

He blushes a bit, "You'd do that?" and flips to an unused page.

I shrug. "Yeah, I just wanna see real art."

He chuckles. "I wouldn't call it 'real art', but I know what you mean. I'm guessing you want me to show you the steps and everything, right?"

I nod again.

"Okay, so I'm just gonna draw you up close, like your chest and stuff, so you can look over the edge and see what I'm doing, okay?"

"Sounds good."

"Okay," He rips out a page and rests it on the front of the notebook, looking at me. "So, when drawing male torsos you need to think about how the body is structured. You have more of a slender waist, see?" He pokes my lower abs with the eraser of the pencil. "So the rectangle usually used for the entire torso is moved up to make room for the smaller midsection."

I peek over the edge of the notebook and see a few vague shapes and lines that only very slightly look like a human form.

He sets the book down and tries to explain muscle movement to me, "Okay, look at my pecs,"

No problem.

"When I stretch my arms over my head like this- see? The muscles move from a square shape to more of an ellipse."

I watch as his chest does just that, the upper corner of them moving up with the shoulder muscles. I lose myself in thought as he draws the rest of me.

We sit on my bed for a few hours, going over all sorts of rules for anatomy and scars and eyes and hands. I don't mind that we use up almost the rest of my book. We can always go outside for a minute and get some more supplies from Dende. The scraps of paper are riddled with blunt sketches and at the bottom corner of every single one he scratches his Saiyan name out nice and dark.

**Kakarot**

I smile.


	10. Chapter 10

After a few hours, I stack all the used papers up and slide them in my side drawer to look at and study whenever the need arises. Kakarot remains seated on my bed, legs crossed. I put my sketchbook back under the bed, not bothering to put it back in the bag, and hop back up across from him.

"I have an idea."

I chuckle. "That's new."

He laughs back at me lightly. "Oh, shut up. Lets play a game."

"What kind of game?" I stretch my legs out in front of me, my toes almost touching his shins. I lean forward and grab my feet, speaking into my knees, "It better not be stupid."

"It's not. At least I don't think so."

"Fine," I come back up, "What is it?"

He smiles brightly. "It's called 20 questions. Gohan told me about it after he was in public school for a while. You go back and forth with one or a few people and ask whatever 20 questions you want. You have to answer truthfully."

"And if I don't?" I cross my arms indignantly.

"I'm not sure, actually," He laughs, "Wanna play? I think it sounds fun."

I consider for a moment before agreeing with a nod. If I'm going to be Kakarot's best friend I might as well get to know him a little better.

"Sweet! I'll go first, okay? ...Uh, okay. What food do you crave the most often?"

I roll my eyes. Of course his first question would be about food. I know my answer right away.

"Strawberry shortcake."

"Really? That's funny!"

I cross my arms tighter. "What's so funny about it?"

"I don't know," He wipes away a tear, still laughing, "You don't look like you'd like strawberry shortcake all that much. You're too manly."

I uncross my arms, half tempted to smack him, "There's nothing girly about liking strawberry shortcake. It's fuckin' delicious."

"You're adorable, oh my Dende. Strawberry shortcake," He continues to laugh.

My cheeks brighten at the compliment, "Shut up, it's my turn."

He quiets down, rubbing his sore stomach.

I decide to go with the theme, "What weird food combinations do you like?"

"Oh! I love lemonade and brownies."

"Ew, what?"

"Lemonade and brownies! Like when you eat some really rich chocolate and you want a drink. I drink lemonade because it just leaves this really nice aftertaste. Like sweet and sour, you know?"

I shake my head.

"C'mon, it's delicious!"

"I'll take your word for it."

"Fine. What's the first thing you notice about a person?"

I close my eyes and ponder for a bit. I finally come up with an answer after a few seconds.

"Whether or not they're taller than me." I say honestly.

He kind of chuckles to himself before nodding. "That makes sense."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I never knew you were so self-conscious about your height, Veg."

"I'm not! And don't call me that!"

He nods nicely, "You're right, you're right, I'm sorry. What was the first thing you noticed about _me_?"

I feel my face heat up. I shake my head. "No, no, no. It's my turn, idiot."

"Okay, fine."

"What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"

"Oh!" He puts his hands in his lap shyly as his face heats up. "Uh, I'm not sure. I've seen lots of pretty things."

I smirk. "No, beautiful is different. The most beautiful thing ever?"

He stutters a bit before panicking.

"I'm hungry."

He leaps out of bed and almost trips over the curtains before sprinting to the kitchen to look for a distraction. I smirk and leave the bed after him, casually strolling into the kitchen with my arms crossed.

He's bent at the waist, rummaging through the bottom drawer of the magically refilling fridge. I wonder for a moment if I'm _in_ love with him, but the thought is scary and overwhelming so I ignore it. Even though I'm not the slightest bit hungry at the moment, I entertain myself with going through the pantry. I find a box with a delicious looking chocolate cake on the front. Curious, I open it to see a gross looking chunky gray powder. Grimacing, I put it back. Maybe Kakarot will find it eventually and be either hungry enough or stupid enough to try and figure out how to make it.

Turning back toward him, I see that he's now shakily making sandwiches over the sink. I roll my eyes playfully to myself and sit at the small table crossing my legs.

He makes a few sandwiches for himself, then he pauses and makes a few more on a separate plate. I smile.

He sits across from me after setting the other plate down in front of me.

"I hope you like turkey."

I shrug, picking up a sandwich. "I'm not picky," I say through a mouthful of food.

He nods to the spare door between the pantry and the bathroom, "Did we ever really look through that closet?"

I shake my head, "I don't think so. Maybe it's all just equipment or whatever."

"I'm curious. Let's explore. It was pretty big from what I saw, getting the yoga mats."

I've never been in there myself, so I nod in agreement. We both wolf our sandwiches down, anxious to explore a new part of the chamber.

We walk into the room slowly, taking in the sheer volume of the room itself. It seems almost as endless as the chambers training area. The walls are lined floor to ceiling with a whole myriad of things. Giant rolls of paper, drawers upon drawers of things unknown, plenty of weights and mats and machines used for exercise. We look around, not knowing where to start. Kakarot goes for the far corner, where many colorful sticks and tubes and stacks of paper lay.

I watch him leaf through the papers, and even though I can't see his face, I can tell he's getting excited. I smile to myself, happy for him.

I go to the drawers, opening them and rifling through the various things in there. After finding all sorts of papers and notebooks, my fingers pause over a smooth shiny stack of papers. Upon closer inspection I find that they have intricate designs all over them. Confused, I flip the papers over, only to find instructions.

Clean and dry your skin and carefully cut out the design.

Remove clear sheet, place on skin and wait 5-10 seconds.

Wet with water, press and hold wet cloth on skin for 20-30 seconds.

Slide paper off skin.

The temporary tattoos range from delicate insects to giant winding dragons to long strips of fire.

I suddenly have the strong urge to cover my entire body in these.

"Kakarot?"

"Yeah?" He comes up behind me, a huge range of colored pencils in his fist.

I point to the dragon. "These look badass."

"Oh! Temporary tattoos, I remember Gohan having a few every now and again. They seemed kind of childish to me."

"No, but look at these! This is fuckin' cool!"

He kind of chuckles to himself. "Alright. We can play around with them for a while, but I really wanna try out all these tools. I've never used this kind of paint before."

"Yeah, yeah." I lose myself looking through the second drawer full of tattoos. I grab all of the different sized papers and toss them onto the table, sheets flying everywhere.

"Kakarot, come on!"

I hear another jovial laugh from the closet.

It feels good to let go.

After pulling Kakarot from the art supplies, I read the instructions again and again. I grab a few washcloths from the bathroom and wet them down, putting them on the kitchen counter.

After much time debating I decide to take the big long strip and wrap it all the way down my arm. I'm not sure about what the design is, but it looks cool. Like a cross between barbed wire and fire but all solid black and fucking cool looking. Kakarot smiles down at me from the table. I must look silly sprawled out on the floor surrounded by these childish toys.

"Help me out here, Kakarot." I stand up, peeling the long plastic sheet form the paper and sticking it to my muscular shoulder, "Wrap this around my arm."

He smiles and shakes his head as he wraps my arm in the design, "You're just a big dork, Vegeta. I like this side of you."

I shake my head as he sticks the last of the strip to the inside of my wrist. "I'm not a dork."

I have no real argument.

I fetch the towels from the counter, pressing them firmly against my skin. The process is long and annoying, waiting for the design to transfer and then making sure I get all the pieces stuck down, I can see how this would be a bit of a pain for children to do. But then again, children probably aren't giving themselves sleeves with temporary tattoos.

I peel the whole sheet off in one go, the tattoo a striking black against my tanned skin.

I glance at Kakarot, gauging his reaction.

He doesn't look like he thinks I'm silly anymore. Before long he's on the floor with me, picking out his own tattoo.

"I'm starting to think Dende made these himself." He says, holding up a huge sheet with Porunga on it, the Namekian dragon.

"It's no Shenron, but he still looks really cool. I think I want this on my back." He says, handing me the sheet. It covers all of my torso.

"I don't think it'd fit anywhere else, Kakarot." I peel the plastic off the sheet and stick the dragon to his back.

I'm suddenly largely aware of my hands on his body. Somehow I'm mesmerized by his skin and the way it feels through paper. I shake my head and slap the rest of the tattoo on him, grabbing the re-soaked cloths and pressing them against his skin. I lose myself in the contact again, so I only remember what I'm doing when he asks if it's finished. It was finished about five minutes beforehand. I paper slides off smoothly and he's left with the bright green image of the other eternal dragon all over his back.

"I wish I could see it. I bet it looks so cool."

Part of me almost wants to say he looks hot, but I can't say anything like that. I go to my bedside desk.

"What're you doing?"

I grab my polaroid camera from the desk, "I'm gonna show you what it looks like."

I jog back behind him, "Stay still." He does. I snap the picture. It rolls out black, I take it from the exit slot and wiggle it around a bit to get the picture to the surface. It shows up perfectly, Kakarot's muscles look very nice. I show it to him. He smiles big.

"I want more!"

I chuckle, setting my camera down on the floor, "Then lets do more."

We spend hours and hours covering each other in the temporary tattoos and taking pictures and laughing at each other.

Even though it's only been about a week, I feel as if we've broken a lot of barriers. I really feel like we're friends.

Maybe I am in love with him. But that's a whole other conversation I have to have with myself another day.

The only other spot on my whole upper body is my left pec. I rifle through the tattoos left. Many of them remain, but they all seem very feminine, and while my masculinity isn't fragile in the slightest, all the other tattoos aren't pink and pretty.

But, Kakarot picks up the perfect sized bright pink flower.

"You should use this for your last one."

"But it doesn't fit my aesthetic." I say semi-ironically, motioning to all the solid black designs on my body.

"Yeah, but it'd look cool, don't you think? All black and then one bright one over your heart?"

I hadn't thought about it like that. And it's not like they're permanent or anything.

"Sure. Go for it." I say, holding my arms straight out.

He smirks happily as he peels the last tattoo and places it expertly on my pec. I'm hyper-aware of the way his hands are moving over my skin, but soon they're replaced with the cold of the cloth. He holds it awkwardly for a few seconds before looking into my eyes. The tension builds, but neither of us say anything. We stand there and just look at each other uncomfortably until he delicately removes the paper from my skin.

He was right.

It does look really nice.


	11. Chapter 11

After cleaning up the annoying plastic sheets off the floor, we lay down in our respective beds in silence. I had never considered getting a tattoo before, because it just seemed stupid, but now that I see the appeal, I kind of want one as soon as we leave.

"Vegeta?"

I close my eyes and put my arms behind my head, "Yeah?"

"Why did you get in bed with me last night?" He sounds nervous, like he's not sure if I would want to talk about it.

"I don't know, I just felt like it. Is it a problem?" I try really hard to not sound harsh, but I'm not sure how well it works out.

"No, it just gets me confused." He says quietly, trailing off almost scared.

I sit up, "What do you mean confused?"

"I don't know, Vegeta, forget I said anything, sorry," His voice sounds muffled, probably through his hands.

I sigh and hop out of bed, sticking my head between his curtains, "No, Kakarot, tell me." He's stuffed a pillow over his face, just the sharp points of his hair sticking out all over.

"It's just that I think I like you," He pauses, "It scares me. I really don't want to like you."

In an attempt to be comforting, I place the lightest hand possible on his shoulder and sit at the edge of the bed, "You don't have to be scared. We're friends. I thought that's what you wanted."

He removes the pillow for a second, revealing a blotchy pink face. "Not that kind of like, Vegeta."

I furrow my brow, not following. "What?"

He groans, sitting up. He can't seem to look me in the eye, and he looks just over my shoulder, into the abyss.

"You know how we were playing twenty questions and you asked me what the most beautiful thing I've ever seen is?"

I nod.

"And then I got all embarrassed?"

"Mhm."

"Well, originally I was going to say West City, because when I'm on Nimbus it looks so small and pretty and everything, but I couldn't say it. I couldn't say it 'cause I couldn't stop thinking about your smile."

He buries himself in his pillow again. I feel my face heat up.

His voice is fuzzy again, through the thick fluffy pillow, "It scared me, because I've never thought you were beautiful, and then I started paying attention. It was your smile first, and then it was your broken nose and then it was your hands. And it all spiraled until I looked at all of you..." He sticks only the top half of his face out, but I can see the blush reaching the tips of his ears, "And now whenever I look at you all I see is this beautiful person and I don't know if it's because we're best friends and I'm appreciating you now, or if it's something more..." He covers his face again, "Wrong."

I frown, I know he isn't sure how to describe liking another man in a romantic way, but 'wrong' is the last thing I want him to think of it as.

I gently tug the pillow from his face, looking into his eyes, "Hey, look. No matter what it is, it's not wrong, okay? You can't help the way you feel. So I'll tell you what, let's give each other some space for a while," It hurts my chest to say it, "And if you still feel like you might like like me, we can talk about it, alright?"

He nods, sucking his lips in a pout.

"Alright. Anyway, it's been a long day, Kakarot. How about you head off to sleep?"

I pat his arm lightly before leaving the canopy and going into my own.

"Vegeta?"

"Hm?"

"Are we still gonna fight?"

I laugh a little, "Of course."

"Hmm, okay. Night."

I lay down, covering myself with the blanket that still smells like him.

"Night, Kakarot."

I lay awake hours after Kakarot started snoring. I tried my best to stay calm while talking to him, but as soon as I was alone, I started to panic.

Why am I panicking? This is what I've wanted all along. But now that it's come to fruition, there's nothing else in the universe I can think of that scares me more.

I've ignored the fact that I'm entirely infatuated with Kakarot for a long time, and now it's right in my face. It can't be ignored. I try to shove the thoughts from my brain, but nothing can calm the storm. I slip from my bed and check on Kakarot's sleeping form before going into the training area to do some yoga on my own. The mats still rest against the pillar from earlier, so I grab one up and unroll it on the polished white floor.

I stretch out into Child's pose, just to stretch out my back. With my nose to the mat I realize that this is the one Kakarot used, and I sigh.

I can never seem to get away from him.

I find myself thinking again. He doesn't want to like me. I wonder why that is. It makes me really sad, knowing that he doesn't want to. I rationalize it in my head that it really has nothing to do with me, and more to do with our wives, children, and his grandchild. The whole family situation would be all messed up if we were to be together in a way that would end our marriages.

I wouldn't mind that, but apparently he would. I sigh.

Yoga isn't as relaxing to me as I thought it would be, so I roll up the mat and put it back.

Still wide awake, I pad over to the kitchen, picking slivers of plastic off the bottoms of my feet as I go.

Tossing open the fridge, I sigh. I have no appetite at the moment.

I can't exactly talk to Kakarot, considering he's been asleep for at least three hours and I was the one that suggested we keep our distance.

But I can't shake this anxiety. All of me is screaming to go and fall asleep in Kakarot's bed again, but that would be the worst idea, considering the situation at hand.

I finally give in though, slipping quietly into bed with him. I notice that he tends to sleep on his left side, so he faces the entrance. So really if I wanted to see his face I would have to go around to the other side, and that eliminates any possibility I have for a quick escape and recovery.

I sigh and settle with gazing at his muscular back. My fingers twitch, aching to trace the dip of his spine. I sigh silently to myself, knowing I could get myself in a lot of trouble if I keep this up.

I buckle down, deciding to keep my word, and give him his space to think.

I go back to my own bed. I don't sleep.

**Six Months Later**

Not much has happened. We kept our distance, gave each other some room.

Six months is a long time when you're constantly within arms reach of someone you so deeply wish you could hold but can't.

I have a small phone with me, just to keep track of how long we've been here.

For us, it's November. On the outside, We've been gone for only 12 hours.

It's November. I guess my 2110th birthday is coming up in a few days. My mind shifts and remembers the boxed cake in the pantry. I also remember that I have absolutely no idea what Kakarot's birthday is. I guess I tend to avoid that topic.

All of me wants to tell him. He would be the only person to ever know of my immortality that wasn't hired to shelter me.

The past few months have been strange. We've agreed to keep our distance, but it seems to have amplified how we see each other. I notice the slightest bits of movement from him, and it's almost like he stares at me when he thinks I'm not looking. I've noticed that he cracks his knuckles a lot. He also tends to play with the edges of his clothes when he's bored, almost like a nervous tick.

"Hey, Vegeta."

"Hm?"

"Let's get thrashed," He pops in my canopy, holding two light amber glass bottles.

"Excuse me?" I sit up, still groggy from sleeping in. "It's like noon Kakarot."

"And? There's no one here to tell us we can't. I found these in the pantry and figured we deserve a break from ignoring each other," He hands me a bottle.

"Kakarot, this is rum. You know, for cooking?"

He scoffs, tossing a free hand in the air, "As if either of us know how to cook with rum. C'mon, let's go." He grabs my hand, yanking me from my bed.

I've only seen Kakarot drunk a few times, and I have to admit, it is very entertaining.

I sit at the breakfast table with him, cracking and unscrewing the cap to my bottle. The more I look at Kakarot giggling himself silly before he's even drunk, the more I wish we were talking. The more I wish I hadn't suggested keeping to ourselves.

His cheeks are already rosy, he hasn't even made it past the neck of the bottle.

As I drink, things slowly but surely become fuzzy around the edges. Kakarot never seems to stop laughing. Between giggles and full-on fits of roaring laughter we find our bellies sore and happy.

Through all the alcohol I get the nagging urge to eat something. I glance at the fridge every few seconds, and Kakarot catches on quickly. Despite our bottles both almost being gone, we're only a bit tipsy, a little stumbley, and very very happy.

He searches the pantry while I scour the fridge. Although I'm hungry, I find nothing of interest. Turning toward Kakarot, I see a box in his hands as he smiles at me.

"Let's make cake!"

I roll my eyes, bracing myself nonchalantly against the counter. "But I'm hungry now! Cake takes hours to make, doesn't it?"

He nods, still smiling. "Yeah, but it's dessert. We can have it later. There's lots of cans of," He inspects the cans he left behind, "Pasta? It looks like pasta."

I down the rest of my bottle, becoming a little dizzier. "Fine."

I watch as he takes out a giant pot and places it on the stove and clicks on the burner. He stumbles back to the pantry, pulling out more rum and about 15 cans of Spaghettios.

One by one he cracks them open and scrapes them out into the heated pot. Once all of them are empty, he shrugs and fetches more, deciding two grown Saiyans require a bit more than that to be satisfied.

I sigh and decide to help, but half way through my second bottle I'm a little more useless.

I fumble with the can in my hands, unable to shove my thick fingers below the little tab. Kakarot laughs to himself and takes it from me, cracking it open with ease.

I pout. Why can he handle his alcohol so much better than I can? I sigh after quickly realizing it's because he drinks a lot more often than I do, because I never drink.

"If you wanna help, you can start on the cake. There's eggs in the fridge and oil in the pantry."

I inspect the box sitting alone on the counter through fuzzy vision. It's the same box I had seen a few months ago. Go figure. I grimace at the nasty gray-looking chunky powder. This is cake? It looks more like sand or dirt. I sigh and ignore the gross feeling the look of this gives my stomach. I rip the top of the plastic bag off with my bare hands, the powder dusting out all over the counter. I hear Kakarot chuckle from a few feet away. I scowl, dumping the mixture into a large plastic bowl. I read the back of the package. Water? Why is this sounding more nasty as it continues?

I measure out a cup of water and dump it into the bowl, cringing at the way it effortlessly sinks to the bottom. Oil. Ugh. I go to the pantry and grab the oil, noting how many other boxed cakes there are hidden in the depths of the shelves.

"One-third," I mutter to myself, carefully pouring the thick yellow liquid in the measuring cup, but going a bit over as my hands are quite shaky.

Dumping it in, I notice it sticks to the sides of the cup, and I find myself wishing I had done the water second. The powder turns almost black in contact with the oil. It gives me some hope that this 'cake' might actually turn into something edible.

"And... Three eggs."

Kakarot has done the kindest courtesy of taking the carton of eggs out of the fridge, I just have to gain enough motor control to crack them.

I do, one at a time, hardly noticing the occasional piece of eggshell falling into the mixture.

Apparently assembling the cake took a lot longer than I thought it did, because before I was even able to start mixing it up, Kakarot was tapping my shoulder, a heaping bowl of steamy pasta in his other hand.

I smirked and took it from him, hyper-careful of not spilling it on my way to the table.

I sit down, and immediately groan when I realize I've forgotten a spoon. I turn and nearly smack into Kakarot, who carefully holds me back and hands me a utensil.

"Calm down, Vegeta. I've got you covered. Here."

I thank him quietly and readjust myself in my seat, shoveling hot food in my mouth as Kakarot sits down.

He eyes me for a moment before looking at his hands and then mine.

"You're left handed?"

I set my spoon down and cock an eyebrow at him. "Yes?"

"That's so weird!"

I have no idea what's wrong with him, "What do you even mean? it's not weird."

"How do you even do that?" He passes his spoon into his left hand attempting to feed himself with it.

"I do it because it's what feels natural to me. It's no different than you being right handed."

"I don't think I've ever met anyone else that's left handed."

I'm still lost on why this is an important issue. "Piccolo is left handed," I point out.

"Really? I never noticed."

Part of me is flattered that he pays more attention to me than the Namek, but the other part of me is sick of this conversation. I decide to play along, just to satiate him.

"We left-handers find each other easily. It's like a sixth sense."

He shakes his head, wondering on something.

"What is it?"

He shakes his head harder. Just looking at him is making me dizzy. "On earth, some people used to beat their kids for using their left hand. Something about the devil? It's kinda frowned upon now, but it was really strange. They would force them to use their right hands and then beat them for having messy handwriting."

I furrow my brow, "They cant have both. Either neat penmanship or writing with the right hand, there's no in between."

"I don't know, Vegeta, how can left handed people be so bad if you're one of them?"

I blush before tucking into my food. "They're not."


	12. Chapter 12

After finishing up, the two of us just kind of sit at the table happily staring at nothing. The alcohol is wearing off, and though it felt nice to let go in that sense, it's better to have my basic motor control back.

We silently agree to wash the dishes together, and after those are finished, Kakarot decides to continue making the cake. I wave at him and tell him that I would pass up on it, but really wishing I had the energy to help out, or to even just watch.

From my bed I can hear the occasional cuss under Kakarot's breath. From what, I'm not sure, but it makes me laugh anyway.

After a few short minutes I hear the oven close, signaling the beginning of something hopefully delicious.

I have no idea where he's gone after that, but I'm too tired to deal with where he may be or what he may be doing, so I lean back onto my pillow and close my eyes. I think about drawing for a moment, and decide to give it a try, figuring it wouldn't hurt.

I lean over to my bedside desk and pull the almost full sketchbook from it, along with the pen clipped to the cover. I take the pen in my hand and click it repeatedly, studying Kakarot's messy but beautiful artwork. Never in all the years have I known the man did I ever think he'd have a knack for art. The fingers of my right hand trace over the lines made many times over by his hand.

The detailed chests and washboard abs look fluid in a way that made them realistic. None of the drawings look stiff or forced or overdone.

And his name in the bottom corner. I never thought of Kakarot having handwriting, let alone what it would look like. It's gentle, for lack of a better word.

I'm no longer interested in drawing. I set the pen down next to me to be lost in the blackness of my sheets, and set to studying the sketches instead. I think about how Kakarot made these from a blank slate. He actually thought of something in his head and translated it through his hand onto paper and made it make sense. For the millionth time, he has impressed me. But oddly, this time there is no malice, fake or otherwise.

I shake my head.

Kakarot truly is something to be admired.

He slowly pulls aside my curtain after a few minutes, giving me plenty of time to stop him. When I don't, he crawls in and sits next to me, glancing at the papers in my hands.

"I like them." I say, unprompted. He nods in thanks and looks at them with me. My fingers graze lightly over the lines, the near-silent noise filling the air between us. At one point I swear I can hear my heart beating.

It's fast.

Why do I feel like this? I steal a glance at him, he's watching my fingers with a neutral but pleasant expression. His face is soft looking, his jaw not too sharp, his cheeks not sunken in the slightest. His eyes are a wonderful dark cloudy gray, something I could never quite get used to, but it never was unpleasant.

He glances at my face, and sees that I'm shamelessly gazing at him. He does an innocent half smile that makes my chest hurt for some reason.

"What?" He asks, flashing a bright row of teeth, one snaggle tooth poking from the left. I close my eyes for a moment and shake my head.

"Nothing, nothing." And I turn back to the drawings, flipping to the next one.

As he begins to pay attention to my hands again I search his features once more, admiring his little nose and pouty lips.

I freeze, shoulders tensing and eyes going wide.

In his bangs.

One silver hair, pronouncing itself proudly against the rest of his pitch locks.

I feel my stomach turn.

Suddenly everything is more intense. I get tunnel vision.

There are slight bags under his eyes. Laugh lines. Crows feet.

My hands begin to shake. I feel nauseous.

I spring from the bed and sprint into the bathroom, not bothering to close the door before hurriedly emptying the contents of my stomach out into the toilet.

I close my eyes. My throat burns and aches after nothing else comes up.

I feel a steady hand on my back. I take a deep breath.

"We're getting old, aren't we?" I say almost silently.

I feel him shake his head. "No, not at all. We're hardly fifty."

'You're hardly fifty', I think to myself.

I get up without his help and flush the toilet, quickly going to the sink and scrubbing the living hell out of my teeth. My throat still feels nasty.

"I guess." I walk into the kitchen and fill a glass of water, downing it in three gulps, and filling another.

He leans against the fridge, his brow furrowed. "You okay?"

I nod through my drinking before setting the glass on the counter.

"You sure? I've never even heard of you getting sick."

"I'm not sick," I assure him, "Just drunk. Well," I sigh, "Not anymore I guess."

"Wanna rest?"

I nod my head before turning to my bed. He beats me there and cleans up the papers and book and fluffs my pillow for me. I can't help but smile.

"Thanks, Kaka."

He stands stock still, watching me slide under the covers and rest my head on my now very soft pillow. I glance at him. He's still staring.

"What?"

He shakes his head minutely. "What did you just call me?"

"I called you Kakarot, like I always have."

"No."

"Excuse me?"

His eyes light up and his face is split with an unyielding giant smile. "You called me Kaka."

I furrow my brow. I don't recall that, but I'm not about to say anything to make that smile go away.

"It's a nickname. You hate nicknames."

I shake my head and close my eyes, letting a teasing smile creep on my face.

"I have no idea how you figure that," I comment sarcastically. He sits down next to me, all I can see is his back.

"I hope this is working." He says quietly, seemingly to himself.

"What's working?" I itch to put my hand on the small of his back, but resist for friendships sake.

"This," He motions to the chamber, "I hope once this is all over you won't hate me." He slumps a little. "I know I said before that I knew you didn't, but really it was a pipe dream. I never really believed it." The guilt I've felt over the years for shoving him out is multiplied in that moment. I give in to my urges and place my hand gently on his back.

"I don't hate you." I say gently. I feel his back tense.

"You've tried to murder me on multiple occasions," He comments with an empty chuckle. I sigh.

"I'm not gonna deny that, or that I had a hell of a fun time doing it, but I don't hate you now," I fingers bend against my own will, feeling the heat of his body seeping through his thin shirt and into them, "I don't hate you even a little bit."

He turns his head toward me, eyes strained. I can see the beginnings of tears forming in them and my heart cracks at the sight. I sigh.

Scooting over, I pat the spot on the bed next to me. I can see him glance at me warily before sliding in next to me. I can tell he's trying his best not to make skin-to-skin contact, and I appreciate it, but my comfort is taking a back seat for right now.

I turn toward him, holding my arm out as an invitation. He sucks in a deep breath before moving closer to me, but not by much.

I sigh and grab at his side opposite me and pull our bodies together. He gasps quietly at the contact but makes no move to escape. I take his arm and pull it out for me to lay on, but I end up not needing it as I decide to rest my head on his chest, along with my hand, idly stroking him with the pad of my thumb. After a few moments I feel him relax, he takes his guard down and enjoys the moment, just like I wanted him to.

"I don't hate you," I say again.

I hear his head moving against the fabric of the pillowcase. I look up, meeting his eyes directly. He stares, unblinking. Soon I feel his fingers slither into the hair at the base of my neck. The audible sigh I let out makes him relax again, blinking and gently resting our noses against one another.

I know I should be feeling my heart beat a million times a minute right now, what's going on?

I search for the answer while still looking into his eyes. Maybe I was hoping to find the answer there. I guess I found it in the way that no matter where we are, when I'm with Kakarot I'm home. I feel like I have a home for the first time in my whole life. I just wasn't expecting it to be a person.

My chest hurts again. There it is, that agonizingly amazing painful feeling I get in my chest whenever I think about him. There it is I just n-

"I love you," I say before my brain catches up with my mouth. I freeze.

There is no way in hell he didn't hear me. My chest hurts in a different way now.

Adrenaline.

He blinks stupidly a few times before pulling his hand from my hair and holding me at arms length to look at me.

"What?"

I shake my head, my eyes never leaving his. My mouth is dry, my hands feel cold.

Shit.

"Vegeta, I-"

The oven beeps.

I exhale the breath that had caught in my lungs twenty seconds ago.

His hands relax. He looks at me strange before leaving the bed, and myself, all empty and cold.

I can't seem to calm my shaking hands and racing heart.

I can't believe I just did that.

I kept going back and forth with the thought in my head for a long time. I thought I was in love with him and then I wasn't sure. It flipped a lot. I'm guessing that it was because I was scared. I'm still scared. But quickly I decide that Kakarot is worth every nauseous stomach and pained chest.

For once, out of all my strained lovers and friends, I think I've found someone worth keeping.

But, there's really only one way I can keep him forever. I don't even want to think about it.

I flatten my hands against my face, dragging them down heavily.

I probably just ruined all of it, though. I'm so stupid. Those little words carried a lot of weight on this planet. Sometimes I forget that there's a whole other dimension just beyond the doors that molded the man across the room. Made him less Saiyan than he used to be, as a child. A humble part of me is happy for that.

But I just told the fucking idiot that I love him. A lot of humans save that phrase for later in an already formed relationship. Looks like I'm the fucking idiot this time.

I hear him puttering around the kitchen and I feel sick again. There's nothing in my stomach, I desperately try to keep the water down. But I'm so fucking anxious...

The oven closes, a pan is set on the counter. I peek my head out to see a beautifully risen chocolate cake and immediately my hunger catches up with me.

Trying my best to ignore my stomach and sudden headache I make my way to the fridge, knowing the cake is too hot to eat right now.

There are a few strange looking fruits sitting innocently on the shelf. I take all four and sit at the table.

Meanwhile, Kakarot is eerily quiet as he pulls jars of frosting from the pantry and puts them on the counter. I watch him out of the corners of my eyes, but he does nothing more than wash dishes and go back to bed.

His bed.

I don't have a clue how to handle this. It's just the two of us. I have no one to ask help of.

I check my phone. It's definitely time for bed.

I hadn't noticed the chamber dimming at all until it was blatantly obvious. I guess I have to sleep on this.

I toss the pits of the fruits in the waste basket and go to my own bed, not even entertaining the thought of trying to slip in with Kakarot tonight. Maybe never again, the way today went.

I couldn't sleep. It had to have been around five in the morning when I felt the left edge of my bed sink.

There's only one other person in here. I try to stay calm, act like I'm asleep.

He stays there for a long time, probably about twenty minutes, before standing slowly, careful not to move the bed much.

Out of peered eyes I see him poke his head in the curtains before exiting and walking around the bed, to the right side. He slowly sinks into it, fully laying down this time. My heart flutters at the glimmer of hope that I've been presented with.

Nothing happens. I dare not move, and neither does he. With a strange comfort set in the pit of my stomach, I slowly but surely fall into a deep sleep.

When I wake up, my bed is empty. I wasn't expecting anything different. But I smell food, and that's the main reason I don't fall back to sleep immediately. It seems Kakarot has attempted to make a peace offering with bacon eggs and toast. The toast is burnt, I can smell it before leaving bed, but I appreciate the thought in and of itself.

Kakarot is really sweet, and aside from the fact that the word 'sweet' is rarely ever a part of my vocabulary, he's sweet.

He's good to me, and we're not even together.

Maybe. I don't know. I'm very confused.

I shake my head and step into my very old slippers, papping them across the floor as I make my way to the table. Kakarot's back is to me, he's making the eggs. I sit down, and there's already juice poured for me and a plate set. I smile.

He turns around, managing to handle all the pans at once and sets them on the table one by one, sticking his tongue out in concentration.

Cute.

He sits, "Help yourself," and starts filling his own plate. I let him take what he wants before I take anything, I never wake up with much of an appetite.

After a few minutes of tense silence and forks clicking on plates he clears his throat.

"I'm sorry about last night," He's looking at his food, poking it around.

I shake my head, "You're the last person that needs to be sorry."

More silence. I wash dishes when we finish. He stays at the table, and I can feel him watching me.

"No, Vegeta. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have ignored you. I was just... scared."

All I can to while elbow deep in soap water is shake my head. I almost tell him that there's no reason to be scared, but it would almost seem hypocritical at this point. I quickly finish up.

"What do you want to do today?" He asks, probably not feeling the weight his question has put on me. I sigh.

"Whatever you wanna do, Kakarot. I'm honestly up for anything at this point." I mentally slap myself for how innuendous that sounds.

"I kinda feel like beating the shit out of each other, honestly." He says with an audible shrug.

I shrug back, drying my hands. "It's what we're supposed to be doing."

He shrugs again, a tiny smile breaking through to his face. I can't help but grin and shrug one more time.

I get dressed quickly, itching to get moving, but as soon as I step foot into the chamber, my feet fly out from under me and I land hard on my ass.

Fucking ow.

After gaining my head I hear him laughing quietly at first, but before long he's doubled over, holding his stomach.

"Shut up, asshole! It's fucking icy out here!"

Wiping his eye with a big smile, Kakarot stepped out onto he floor to help me up, but only made it a few steps before landing in the same position as me. I laugh right back at him, showing no pity. He rubs the back of his neck like he always does, and flashes a huge smile at me.

"You know, Veg, I think I saw ice skates in the closet a while ago."

I shrug, "Probably. There's a bit of everything in there."

"Wanna?" He looks at me with big hopeful eyes. It's pathetic.

I roll my eyes. I did say I was up for anything.

"Fine."


	13. Chapter 13

I wait for him, the ice freezing my ass to the point that I have to force myself up onto the stairs. He's been in that damn closet far longer than he should have at this point. I get up and go in to find him rummaging around in a huge pile of a nondescript category of things.

"What are you doing?" I tap my foot.

He doesn't look up, his backside moving back and forth. I find myself distracted. "Sorry, what?"

"I said that it's a huge mess in here, I can’t find them. What size are you?"

"Nine," I glance up, finding several pairs of skates hanging from a peg on the wall. "Kakarot."

He turns around, "What?"

I point to the peg with my arms half crossed, eyebrows raised. He stares at the skates for a moment before looking back to me, a bright smile creeping on his face.

He scratches at the back of his head, "Oh, I didn't see those there."

I shake my head, grinning. "Clearly." I fly up and take down my size, and then Kakarots, tossing them into his waiting arms.

“You know my size?” He checks under the tongue, nodding.

“I just pay attention.” I walk out of the closet, hearing a quiet, “Impressive.” I silently shake my head in disagreement. I stand in front of the void, noting how the floor looks a little shinier than normal. I glance down to the skates in my hand, and get nervous. I’ve never done this before. I look to the other side and Kakarot is already lacing up his second shoe and pushing himself up.

He looks a little wobbly at first but quickly finds his balance as he slides the skate back and forth experimentally on the ice. 

He kicks off effortlessly, sending himself flying not too far away. He turns suddenly, ice shavings flying through the air.

“Well?! Come on!” 

I shake my head minutely, finally sitting down to lace up. 

With the skates on I try to stand, and find it harder than I expected. 

How the hell am I supposed to go on the ice with these on when I couldn't even do it on my feet?

Kakarot slides up smoothly, holding out one hand, “Let’s go, I won’t let you fall.”

I’m trusting this man with my life. I take his hand and just after I notice that I forgot to put my gloves on. I don’t know what’s going on with me. 

I place an unsteady foot down, hardly pressing down before my foot slides out from under me. Kakarot catches me by the underarm, while also putting a hand on my waist. I try to focus on not falling on my ass, and failing. He catches me.

“You know you can just catch yourself with flight right?” 

I cross my arms for a second before losing my balance. I hold them out again to steady myself. “It would be cheating. If I can’t even do the simple task of balancing then I deserve to fall.”

He shakes his head at me with a lopsided smile, taking my wrists in his hands again. “Let’s just take it slow, then. C’mon, push forward.”

My foot flies out behind me, and I fall forward onto his chest. He catches me, and I hear the mocking rumble of laughter against my ear. He holds me at arm’s length, looking down at his own skates. 

“Look, there’s this little toothed section at the front of your skate. It won’t slide against the ice, so use it to get some momentum. Take it slow.” He looks gently into my eyes before slowly letting go of my arms. I manage to keep my balance and push myself forward a bit. Kakarot gives me an encouraging smile and kicks himself off, speeding in the opposite direction.

I take a deep breath and steady myself, slowly making my way around. I start to get the hang of it pretty quickly, it just seems to be a matter of coordination and balance. Soon I’m swiftly making my third lap around the house. 

I hit a snag as I’m speeding around and I fling into the air, no purchase whatsoever on the ground. I keep my word and refuse to use flight to soften my fall.

I never hit the ground. 

Kakarot takes his fingers from his forehead to check for injuries. “Vegeta! Are you okay?”

I attempt to shake him off but he won’t budge. “I’m perfectly fine, Kakarot. You had no reason to catch me like that.”

He hugs me tight, “I got scared, I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

I’m about to retort with an instinctual snarky comment, but I can’t get it out before I look at the devastatingly worried look in his eyes. We stare at each other for a few seconds in complete silence. I can see the tenseness in his face, eyebrows contorted into a look of concern, a heavy open lipped pout, and a slightly scrunched up nose. 

God, he really is beautiful.

“Vegeta?”

I look into his grey eyes again, “Yeah?”

“Did you mean it when you said you loved me last night?”

My chest tightens. I can’t will myself to say anything. I study his features again, looking for any sign of disgust or apprehension. I find nothing but open worry and a tinge of hope.

I can hear the blood rushing through my ears.

I nod minutely.

His eyes search my face for a minute, lingering a moment too long on my lips. Suddenly everything is hugely vivid. My heart is pounding, my ears are ringing. I don’t remember the last time I inhaled was. 

He loosens his grip on me, relaxing now. I’m not in any sort of danger. The worry lines between his eyebrows disappear. His eyes shift from worry to concealed hope. I can tell he wants to say something.

Before I can ask him what’s wrong, Kakarot tightens his grip ever so slightly.

He’s leaning in. I’m still not breathing. My eyes go wide as his slowly close. It’s incredibly obvious what’s about to happen, and I dare not fight it.

I close my eyes as well, waiting.

Soft warm lips press against mine so gently I would swear he’s teasing me. His touch is so light it’s almost not even there. He runs his lips along mine in a way that I finally know what’s going on.

He’s asking permission.

I pout into his lips with the same tenderness, and I can feel a tiny smile grace his mouth before leaning in a bit more.

With the dainty shy way we kiss, I find it hard to connect the touch with the fact that we are strong enough to destroy entire universes if we wanted to. He handles me with such care and grace that I genuinely feel like royalty.

My arms find the will to move, and my hands lace themselves along his ebony strands. Kissing Kakarot is an experience that I never even imagined would be this amazing. I typically need lots of pressure and force to get going, but Kakarot kisses me in a way that I feel more than passion and lust.

Protected. Loved. Worshipped. 

Understood. 

The death grip held on my chest releases, air finally finding its way into my lungs. My shoulders relax, and I lean in deeper, burying my fingers all the way to his scalp, pulling gently.

The kiss is still innocently close-mouthed. I won’t take it any further unless he wants to. His arms snake around my waist, pulling my body closer to his so I could resist if I wanted to. 

I don’t. 

I bring him ever closer to me, my arms around the back of his neck. I open my mouth ever so slightly to give some comfortable slip, and he returns the gesture. It’s now passionate on a level that I never had the pleasure of experiencing before. More than lust, more than just a spur of the moment decision that will be awkward later.

This kiss is over twenty years in the making. I’ll be damned if it won’t do all the confusion justice. I tilt my head, gently nipping at his bottom lip. He smirks and runs his tongue over the spot. I take the opportunity to intrude, running my own tongue along his. He tastes sweet, like he was specially made by the gods for me. 

He pulls away suddenly and laughs when I pout. 

“I think we have some talking to do,” He kisses me chastely once more before taking my hands and skating us back into the house.

We sit on the steps and silently free ourselves from our skates. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see him steal glances from me every so often; my smile grows wider. We set our skates back in the closet next to where the yoga mats lay. His hand comfortably sits in mine as we make our way silently back to my bed. 

I sit down, and Kakarot follows, sitting a respectable distance from me.

He looks at me for a second, “What the literal frick is going on?”

I shrug and laugh at the same time. “I guess more than twenty years of pent up sexual frustration finally giving way.”

He puts his head in his hands and laughs for a minute.

“Let’s play 20 questions again.” A devious smirk that looks very out of place on his features splits wide. I don’t really care anymore, I’m willing to lay it all out on the table.

“Alright. Why did you decide to kiss me?” I cross my arms and lean back against my headboard.

“Because I love you. It’s not that complicated,” He scratches at his chin. I roll my eyes, “When was the first time you realized you loved me?”

I sit back up. “That’s really hard to pinpoint. I remember liking you a lot the whole time we’ve known each other, but I think the first time I really recognized it is when you died. To be honest I was a complete mess. I stopped training and everything cause I was so devastated from losing you.” I look up at him, a dorky smile plastered under rosy cheeks. I shake my head, “But I’m pretty sure I had feelings for you immediately. I really had no other reason to obsess over you like I did.”

“You obsessing over me made me feel really special, I won’t lie. Anyway, your turn.”

“What about you? When did you start this whole dumb crush thing?” I keep leaning more and more toward him, it’s like my body is refusing to be away from him any longer.

“Really in the middle of our first fight. When you were standing across from me on that boulder my heart nearly stopped over how amazing you looked.” He blushes deeper, scratching the back of his head, “I had so much trouble concentrating. I just wanted to touch you.”

I look down and smirk to myself, “That’s really flattering, Kaka, thank you.” 

He pauses for a minute. “Vegeta?” I look up at him, questioning.

He looks away, cheeks growing darker as the seconds pass, “Vegeta… Do you, uh… Wanna do more than kiss me?” His eyes flick back up to mine. My chest tightens again.

Yes! Of course, you idiot! I want nothing more than to…

To… 

“Yes, Kakarot.” I push him to face me with one finger under his chin, he looks so nervous and almost on the brink of embarrassment, “I want to do so much more than kiss you. You have no idea how long I’ve been pining after you.”

His eyes widen with surprise. He gently grabs onto the wrist under his chin and brings it down into both of his hands. Playing with it absentmindedly, he looks deep into my face, almost as if he’s searching for something. 

“Vegeta there’s… There’s something I want to show you.” Still holding onto my wrist he pulls me from the bed and over to his. Once he sits me down he turns and rummages through his own little desk, pulling out stacks and stacks of papers, rubber banded together. He dumps them out on the bed in front of me and sits on the other side of the pile. I can’t read his expression at all. 

“These are letters.”

I eye the stacks again, each rubber band is straining with how many papers it has to hold, there about ten sets. 

“The ones in the green rubber bands are letters Chichi has written to me.”

I pick up one of the green ones. It feels heavy for a few letters. I look back into his eyes, “What are the yellow ones?”

He sighs. “The yellow ones are… Letters I’ve written.”

“To Chichi?” I pick up a yellow stack.

“To you…”

I fall silent. I now notice that there are quite a bit more yellow ones than green. I swallow the lump in my throat.

“Why show me these? I feel like I’m stepping in on something much bigger than what’s between you and me.”

He shakes his head. “It’s exclusively about what’s going on between us. I’ll spare you going through all the letters leading up to the end, but this one is important,” He pulls out a bright red envelope, it’s been torn open, I can see little circular stains all over it.

He cried over this. He’s trusting me with something big.

Don’t fuck this up, Vegeta.

Gingerly, I take the skinny envelope from his shaking hand. I look up to his face to see the beginnings of unshed tears form in his eyes. With my other hand I hold his, rubbing my thumb along his knuckles. 

“Goku,” He starts at his earth name, “it’s going to be okay. I promise.” His tears finally start falling, running tiny rivers down his cheeks.

“I’ll protect you.”

A small smile breaks through his emotion. He rubs his tears away with the back of his hand.

He nods, “Okay.”

I slip my fingers into the envelope, pulling out a single piece of paper. The folding creases are so deep it’s almost falling apart. How many times had he read this? My heart already aches for him. 

I unfold the paper gently, exposing thin flowing handwriting. I start to read.

 

Goku,

I feel like we both know what I’m going to write now. These last few years have been really… Hard, is the only way to phrase it. You’re never home. I’ve raised your crazy children for the past 25 years of my life. We’re grandparents now. 

My point is I’m getting too old. Too old to deal with you never being home. Too old to know that you’re spending the last few years of my life with him, not me.

He’s gotten your attention, I can tell. You’re not the man I fell in love with, and I feel like you’ve been that way for a long time. When you left us… Left me, for seven years after you died…

It made me so angry. I had to go through another childbirth without my husband, I had to raise two half-Saiyans by myself. I’m too fucking old for this, Goku. 

But I love my children. They’re the only thing keeping me from packing all of my things and going to live with my father. So I’ll tell you this now. As soon as Goten is old enough to leave the house and live on his own, I’m leaving too. 

You’re a grown man that needs to learn how to do more than fight. I shouldn’t have to teach you. That’s not what I married you for.

Goten turns 18 in a year. And when that happens and he goes wherever he’s going, I’m gone too. I’m sorry, Goku. There’s not much else I have to offer you. And there’s nothing I can offer you that Vegeta can’t. So I have no purpose here anymore.

I’m sorry.

 

Their marriage seemed so flawless when Bulma and I went over. I guess there was a lot more going on than anyone realized. She didn’t sign her name at the bottom of the letter. I find that cold, even for her. She’s the stupidest woman alive for leaving him. I look back up to Kakarot. I can tell he was reciting the words in his head. He’s crying again. I fold the paper up and put it back in the envelope, and the envelope back into the bundle. I take all the green bundles and put them back in his drawer. He looks at me curiously. 

“Vegeta?”

I shove the leftover letters aside and sit real close to him, taking in all his features. I kiss him gently on the lips before leaning in to hug him tight. He returns the gesture almost immediately, sobbing into my shoulder. 

“Listen to me, Kakarot,” I whisper lovingly into his ear. “I promise you with all of my pride and strength, I will never ever abandon you.” 

I kiss his neck. “I will spend the rest of my life protecting you, loving you, and treating you like a King.” His grip on me tightens, his shuddering cries wrack his whole body. I rub my hands up and down his back, trying to calm him. I rub my cheek against his neck, waiting for his tears to subside.

“Vegeta…” He sobs, rubbing his face on my chest, “Vegeta…”

We just sit there, Kakarot and I. He just keeps whispering my name through his tears. Soon, I begin to cry myself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been 13 long chapters building up to that kiss. I hope I did it justice. Things are going to get a little angsty in the next few chapters.


	14. Chapter 14

Crying in the arms of the one you love is strangely therapeutic. There isn’t much I wouldn’t do for the man next to me. Once his tears subside, I hold him at arm's’ length, looking into his watery eyes with as much emotion as I can muster.

“Kakarot.”

He sniffles, wiping his eyes on the back of his arm, “Vegeta,”

I smile gently at him, waiting for him to say what he needs.

“I want you to read the letters I wrote you. I was… I hoped that I would be able to give them to you eventually. Now that things are like this, I…” He breathes as steadily as he can through his re-welling tears. “I really want you to read them. I can’t really say to you what I wrote. It’s all in there. Just promise you won’t think differently of me when you see how obsessed with you I am.”

I look at him and back to the letters behind me. “I promise,” I can’t wait to dig into those. I give him a little smile and hug him again, his arms squished between our chests.

“Thank you, Kakarot. I want you to rest, and I’ll read these,” I hop out of his bed and over to mine, pushing them together to close the empty space between them. There’s no point to sleeping separately now, we’ve both been sneaking it in, anyway. I pull the heavy canopy curtains to both beds out from the crack and wrap them around the top cage so they don’t get in the way.

“You just rest your head, alright, Kaka?”

He nods at me with a sad smile and lays down. I sit right next to him, the stacks of paper on my other side. Once checking that he’s settled and comfortable I rip into the first bundle, pulling out paper after paper. I notice that all of the envelopes have dates written on them, ranging from before the androids showed up to what seems to be just before coming into the chamber. I spend time organizing them so I can read them in order. It takes me a while, but it feels worth it.

I start at the beginning. The envelope is labeled ‘Age 764, August 25’.

This is where it all began. I open the unsealed envelope and pull out a single sheet of tri-folded paper. There isn’t much written on it, he was obviously just getting used to what it felt like to write letters to no one. 

 

Hi, Vegeta. Wow, this feels weird, haha. I’ve never written a letter to anyone before. I don’t even know if you’re gonna read it ever. I hope you do, eventually. Uh, what do I want to talk about? By this time I’m sure you know that Trunks is your son. He told me, and then he told me that Bulma was his mom. I don’t know why, but that kind of made me upset. I should be happy for you and Bulma, right? I don’t know where this is going.

The writing stops. There isn’t much structure to it, he was probably just trying to get it out so he didn’t say anything about Trunks in person. I pick up the next one. ‘Age 764, September 5’.

 

Vegeta! I guess I’m writing more letters. I don’t understand why, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you last night and I couldn’t sleep. So now I’m real tired and I’m still thinking about you. You look really good in pink. That sounds dumb, doesn’t it? I think you look good all the time, really. It’s just something about you. Do you ever think that I look good? I wish I knew.

 

The next one skips to Age 774. That gap must’ve been while he was dead.

 

I’m back, Vegeta. Well, not really back. Just for the day. I got to watch you while I was in Otherworld, why weren’t you training? You didn’t seem too happy. What happened while I was gone that made you so sad? I didn’t like seeing you like that. It made me upset. I couldn’t stop looking at you, ‘cause I just wanted to make sure you were okay and that you didn’t do anything dangerous. A much as I missed you I didn’t want you to die just so I could talk to you again. I tried it once, but I couldn’t do it without King Kai. Really I was too nervous to ask him if I could talk to you. And even then I didn’t know what I would say. Did you miss me? I don’t think you would tell me even if you did. It would be unlike you. I noticed you would talk to yourself sometimes but I could never hear you, it was too fuzzy. I wondered what you thought when I died, but you never seemed bothered by it. That kind of made me sad. It’s probably selfish, but I wanted you to miss me. I wanted you to want me to come back. I guess I just wanted to feel like you liked me at least a little bit, that there was some lying behind all the mean things you would say to me and about me. But I guess that’s just wishful thinking, right, Vegeta?  
This is strange, but I really had a weird feeling in my gut whenever I would watch you from Otherworld. Like I would get nervous or excited. Almost like how I feel when I fight, but… Different. There was no adrenaline, but I felt all warm and happy. Especially when you started to train again. I was happy you were out of your rut.  
Don’t tell anyone, but I was so busy watching you all the time that I didn’t even notice that I had another son, or that Gohan had gotten so big. I was paying so much attention to you, that’s all I did when I wasn’t training. I hope this doesn’t sound too creepy, but I would stay up late sometimes to watch you sleep. It was the only time you didn’t look so mad. You really are handsome. I would never say it out loud, I know that you’d kill me if you knew, but this is only a letter that you’ll probably never get to read. That makes me sad.

The sentiments of Kakarot watching me from Otherworld fills me with a strange warmth. He really did love me all that time. Knowing that put my mind at ease a bit. The next one was just the day after. I notice that he started to open up about his feelings.

 

That Buu thing was crazy, right Vegeta? I’m happy you’re okay. Please never do that again, it got me really scared. I didn’t want you hurt. I wanted to cry when I found out but I couldn’t because everything was happening too quick. Fusing with you was really nice. I know you didn’t like the idea of it, but I felt you when we were one. You really felt good being that strong, even if you had my help. I never got to see anything of your memories and that made me sad. I just wanted to know what you felt about me. Did you see what I feel about you? I’m not sure, you didn’t bring it up. Part of me hopes you did, just so I could skip past telling you all the embarrassing parts. But that’ll never happen. You hate me, I know that. It makes me sad, but it’s not something that I can change. I’ve done so much for you and for Bulma, and you still hate my guts. I really wanna cry. I want you to love me like I love you. I want you to feel the same nervous tummy that I do when I look at you. I think you’re great. It’s wrong to feel like this. We’re both men, and we’re both married, but… My grandpa always told me to think with my heart, and it hasn’t failed me yet. Not once. I hope I’m right with this, too. I really wish you would think with your heart too, and maybe our hearts would think the same way. I believe the pain of losing you and you still being alive would hurt more than if you left by dying. Then I would at least have a hope that you cared about me as much as I care about you.  
Sorry. I don’t want to make you sad.  
You’re never going to read this, anyway. Who am I trying to kid? Myself, probably. On the off chance that you do end up reading all my letters, please don’t talk about it. I’m too scared. God, I never thought I could feel this way about someone. You’re really something, Vegeta. You do something to my brain that I have a hard time putting into words.

 

That idiot. I look over affectionately at his sleeping form. He never even considered the possibility that I would love him like I do. He was so hopeless, I could tell. It hurts me inside to think about how much angst he put himself through over me. 

The next few letters spanned the few weeks post-Buu, ranting on and on about how much he missed me and how fun training Uub was. He really went all out with complimenting me too. He was so sure that I would never get my hands on these.

He wrote to me about his crumbling marriage, how Chichi had been really distant because he would always talk about me. She was jealous, that much was obvious to me, but Kakarot never took notice to how much his obsession with me hurt his wife in the worst way. He was too concerned with everything I was up to to take care of his family. I guess that’s when Chichi had had enough, and put her foot down.

I know that Kakarot loves his wife dearly, but not in the way that she wanted him to. He loves her like a friend. A best friend, and she couldn’t handle that reality. Through the letters it was clear to me that Kakarot’s affection grew mostly during and after our fusion as Vegito. Part of me is happy he wasn’t able to sense my memories. That isn’t how I want to tell him. 

I don’t know how I’m going to do that. I know that Kakarot knows what immortality is, but I don’t think he understands the weight of the decisions I’m going to have to make. He will inevitably die, and I’ll be left heartbroken, as I always am when a friend of mine passes on. That's why I'm scared. I’m not sure how I would react to a lover dying, though. I’ve never had a steady partner aside from Bulma that I was able and allowed to see every day, and grow a bond with. I’ve known Kakarot for a good portion of his life, and I’ve gotten to know him better than I thought I would. But that scares me more. I love Kakarot dearly, and it’s a strange and foreign love. Not the way I feel for my friends or my children, or even my wife. I love all of them, yes, but Kakarot is…

I can only put Kakarot to one word.

‘Unique’.

It’s one of the many words that suits him, but the only one that really captures how special he is. I’ve never ever felt this way, in all my years. I’ve had plenty, so that says a thing or two about Kakarot.

I look down to him again. He’s striking. Again, I note his signs of aging and sigh. In due time he will pass, just like everyone else. 

He will leave me, of that I’m sure. Whether or not he does it before he dies is up to him. 

There is one thing, though. 

I don’t want to think about it. The concept fills me with anxiety. What if he gets sick of me after so long and goes away? Eternally leaving me alone, with no other options?

In the legends, there was one passage that had always intrigued me. I thought an immortal had to be born, not made. Apparently that wasn’t so.

 

‘The bonding of an immortal to a mortal being is dangerous. All mortals eventually die, of natural causes or otherwise. When an immortal finds companionship or a mate in a mortal being, the immortal must choose if they are willing to sacrifice the one chance they have to make their partner immortal.  
In all of the years spent studying the method of ‘sharing the mark’, not one set of rituals was pinpointed. Of all the immortals that were willing to share, all of them said the same thing,  
‘It just happens naturally. You know when you want to share life eternal with someone. And when you do, instinct takes over and you do what feels right.’ The only immortals able to share their gift are ones born with the moon mark. No one born as a mortal can share their immortality. When the mortal is granted with their gift, they will develop a moon mark around the base of their tail, just like a true-born. The aging they may have gone through will be reversed back to their peak age.  
An immortal can only share the mark one time. Once they have given a mortal that gift, they are stripped from the ability to give it to another. Fortunately, no accounted immortal has reported becoming separated from their chosen, so it is believed that the instinctual sharing of the mark binds the two together, as if they are one soul. They will not live happy lives without each other. Some have even said that being physically too far away from their chosen causes physical pain and symptoms of depression and anxiety if left like that for too long.’

So, there’s only one way to keep Kakarot by my side forever. I can only hope that he’s the right choice. 

In my heart of hearts I know he is, but the time will come. 

But before that, he needs to know what he’s getting himself into.

I shake him awake, ignoring the rest of the letters strewn about the bed. 

It’s time.


	15. Chapter 15

“Kakarot?” I shake him harder until his eyes flutter open, a confused frown on his face.

“What is it, Vegeta? I thought you were reading,” He sits up and glances as the half-read letters, sudden panic coming onto his beautiful features. “I ruined it didn’t I? You think I’m creepy!”

I hold him by the shoulders to calm him, “No, no, no! I just… Kakarot there’s something we need to discuss,” I notice the anxiety crawl over his face again, “And it has nothing to do with your letters, I promise,”

He nods at me, and I note a little shaking in his hands. I hold them in my own, trying my best to not tremble as well. I don’t exactly succeed. I probably should have thought about how I’m gonna do this instead of just jumping right into it.

“Uh, Kakarot?” I ask stupidly.

He nods again, waiting for my move.

My lockbox. The pictures.

“Let me get something, I’ll be back,” I reluctantly let go of his hands and roll all the way to the other side of our joined bed, finding the bag I brought with me on the floor, now exposed. I reach in for the box and pull it out with a shaking hand. I haven’t looked at these in a bit, this will be emotional, I can tell. 

I crawl back into the canopy, box in hand, and a nervous furrow in my brow. Kakarot eyes me, obviously as nervous as I am. He looks so confused.

I sit next to him and set the box in front of us.

“These are pictures.” I say, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

“Pictures of what?” He asks, looking at me with his head cocked to the side.

I shrug, “A bunch of things, I guess, but mostly people,” I reach to click it open, “Here, look,”

The box springs open, all the photos sitting the way I left them. I dump them out unceremoniously. I love these pictures a lot, but there are too many to go through one at a time. There’s no harm in just dumping them, they were gonna end up all over the bed anyway.

I pick one up to look at it. 

Oh, yeah. I remember him. Eli, was his name. I check the writing on the back of the photo to confirm. Eli was one of my favorite guards. He would always let me walk the grounds at night and he would escort me around the castle. He knew that I needed to stretch my muscles, just like every other Saiyan. I had taken a picture of the two of us, with big cheesy smiles. 

Along with the names I had written on the back of every picture, I had also written down how old I was at the time, so maybe I could recall what was happening in that period. But really after so many years my memory has faded a touch, and now all I have is pictures to remind me of the friends I had gathered.

I motion to the pile, ushering Kakarot to inspect them. I hope this goes over well, I’m not sure what else to do at this point other than panic. 

He picks up one of Ryelie, one of the only friends I had outside of the grounds, technically. She was a garden-keeper, and I only got to see her when Eli would take me around. I guess her and Eli had talked about me, because suddenly she was gardening at night. I knew that both of them cared about me, knew that I needed companionship with my limited mobility. The only thing was, Ryelie was quite withered by the time I had gotten to make her acquaintance. I had almost rushed into a friendship with her, because I knew she had limited time left.

I think she knew, too.

He flips the photo over and looks at the back. I wait with baited breath, expecting him to ask what the numbers mean, but he doesn’t and moves onto another picture.

After a few minutes I come across Nappa’s photo. Suddenly I’m very emotional. My last guard. One of the only people that had really, really gotten to know me. He would ask questions. Tell me things about the outside. Really dig deep into my emotions. He was nice. I set his down, not willing to cry just yet.

“Veg?”

My heart drops, “Yeah?”

“Were these at a party or somethin’? Why are you showin’ me these? And what are the numbers?”

There it is. I take a deep breath.

Shit. How do I say this?

“No, Kakarot they’re not from a party. They’re all from different times.”

He scratches the back of his head, “I’m confused.”

I start small, “These are pictures I’ve taken over the years.”

He glares at a few of them, confused, “But you look the same. You look the same now, too,” He pauses and looks at me, brow digging deeper into his features. His brain is working overtime. He has no idea what’s going on. Part of me feels guilty for beating around the bush, but my hands haven’t stopped trembling. 

“Vegeta? What’s goin’ on? What does this have to do with anything between us?”

God, I can’t take this anxiety. 

“The numbers… The numbers are how old I was when I took the picture.” I look back to the little pile, pulling one out and examining it blindly while he makes sense of all this in his head.

“But, Veg,” He points to one, 1873, “That’s not…” He pauses.

Here it comes.

“You’re… Wait,” He shuffles through, finding another. 529. I watch as he pulls out another. 2015. “Vegeta.”

He puts all of the pictures down, the shaking in his hands so violently that the pieces of paper make a wiggling noise as he discards them.

“Yes, Kakarot?”

“Exactly how old are you…?”

I realize I’ve never said it out loud, not even to myself. 

I check my little phone, pulling it out of my pocket. It’s November eighth for us.

“I turn two thousand-one hundred- and ten in four days.” I can’t keep the nervousness from my voice. I’m shaking all over, my cheeks are flush and my hands are clammy.

“Two… Thousand?”

I nod slowly, “One hundred and ten.”

“Veg… H-how?”

I shake my head, handing him the picture I took of him a few months ago, with his name printed neatly on the back with '2109' right under it. He stares at it, running his thumb over my handwriting, “It’s a really, really long story.”

He gestures to the mound of pictures almost violently, “You think?” He gnarls his hands into his hair, dropping his picture, “Two- thousand years?!” He leans his head back, staring at the darkness of the canopy above, “Why didn’t you tell me?!”

I shrug at him, almost guilty, “I just did.”

“I mean before now!” He looks through the pictures again, trying to find one with a smaller number. I hand him one from when I was just 25. The edges of the photo are curling with age. That’s part of the reason I rarely took them out. I wanted to make them last as long as I could.

He holds the photo up and compares it to my face. His mouth opens a bit before dropping the paper and grabbing me by the shoulders.

“You look the same,” He shook me a bit, “The exact same!”

I nod, “I’m aware.”

“There’s no way!” He glares at me suspiciously, “Is this some kind of joke? When did you do this? Before we came in did you just have a grand ol’ photoshoot with a bunch of random people?”

I leer back at him, “I would never! Tell me Kakarot, do I look any different now than I did when we met 21 years ago?”

He lets me go, thinking with concern in his eyes, “No.”

“Exactly. How could I fake that?”

“You… Couldn’t,”

I let him sit there with that thought as I pack the photos away back into my box. I slip them back under my bed and return to my new lover.

“Vegeta?”

“Hm?”

“Why now?” He’s looking off into space. What stage of grief is this again?

Ah, yes. Depression. 

“Why are you telling me now?” He holds out his palm in his lap. I take it and run soothing circles over it with my thumb. 

“Because, Kakarot. That’s not all of it.” I tell him with caution.

“What else could there be? It doesn’t get stranger than this,”

Before I can answer him, he cuts me off, “You came to Earth to wish for immortality. But you’re…?”

“Already immortal, yes.” I nod at him minutely. He looks back off into space. 

“Why?”

I take a deep breath, squeezing his hand in mine and laying down on my back, “Well, on Vegeta, I was a…Valuable prize. I was the only one of my kind that we knew of, and the women were sneaky. They would eavesdrop on government meetings. And they figured it out.

“They never told anyone, thank Dende. If they had, the whole Kingdom would’ve been sieging the castle. They kept it to themselves in hopes of increasing their chances to create offspring with me,”

I see him visibly cringe at the notion. Whether from disgust or jealousy, I’m unsure.

“So I was kept in the castle, far away from the prowling women and all of the prying eyes. And then the board discovered that there were dragon balls here. They had hoped to ‘cover for me’, as they called it. Really what they meant was to sterilize me, so I would be unable to breed. All of them were quite fucked up. But I had to go along with it because I was just a figurehead. I didn’t really have any power,” I catch his questioning gaze.

“Yeah, I know I put on this farce that I was an almighty ruler with an iron fist, but really all I had was a title. A title and a cell. I’d be much stronger now if I was allowed to train, but I wasn’t, so I was comparatively weak. I couldn’t escape even if I wanted to. The only way out was to convince my personal guards to let me leave for good, but I never did, ‘cause I knew that would end in their deaths. I didn’t want that, so I dealt as best I could.”

“They imprisoned you?”

I nod, laying down, “Essentially, yeah. I was allowed to leave and walk the castle during the day, but I was never allowed outside. Or really, the rules said I wasn’t allowed outside.”

He lays down next to me, holding my hand in both of his, “Didn’t anyone notice? That the King never was around?”

I shrug, “It was tradition that the royal family stay indoors and away from the public, except for the bi-yearly celebration of Fauwnza. I would get all dolled up, so much that no one could recognize me even if they wanted to, and I would get paraded around for an hour and then shoved back inside,” I squeeze his hands, “Like some dirty circus animal. It was humiliating.”

He stays quiet for a minute. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know,”

I nod sadly.

“What’s Fauwnza?” He leans his head against my shoulder, “I’ve always wanted to learn about our culture but…”

“You were scared to ask me?”

He nods shyly.

I let go of his hand and pat his head, “I’ll tell you all about whatever you wanna know. Fauwnza was our equivalent of Thanksgiving, essentially. Every two years the crops would mature and we would celebrate as a people and just eat all day.”

“But what about the rest of the time? All of those hungry people…”

“Vegeta was a huge planet, about five times the size of Earth. There were only a few hundred thousand of us, so all of them lived around the castle in the city or little villages not far from everyone else. The rest of the planet was used for battlegrounds and agriculture. There was never a food shortage,” I grab his hand again and pull him closer. “There were water shortages, though. All of the water was used for the farms, but again there weren’t a lot of us,

“Lamanus was the only holiday I wasn’t allowed to celebrate,” He cocks his head the best he can while laying down. “It was the mating holiday. Every five years the red moon would come and everyone would search for mates.” I finally feel the anxiety gripping my brain crawl away, leaving me with nothing but a running mouth and a lot of stories to tell.

He snuggles closer to me, turning to see my face, “But you said there were women that wanted children from you.” 

I nod, “They’re always able to bear children, but it was more like the prostitutes didn’t give a shit when mating season was, they just had sex with everyone that was willing. But there weren’t a lot of those, so there weren’t a lot of prostitutes.”

He kind of shifts uncomfortably, glancing up at me and putting his hand on my chest, “Can you tell me, uh… What… How mating worked?”

I chuckle and pull him closer, kissing him on the forehead, “Don’t be so shy. All I know about mating is stuff I read in books. Living this long has given me plenty of time to read. From what I’ve gathered, it’s like a bite. The two of them fight, and whoever wins is the Alpha, and the loser is the Beta. The Alpha bites the Beta first and then the Beta bites second.”

“That sounds like it would hurt.”

I nod, “Yeah, it does. Most of the time people would do it during, uh… intercourse, to help dampen the pain with pheromones. But they can really do it whenever. In the royal family, before I came along, they would wait until a ceremony and do it in front of an audience. Kind of like a wedding. Normal citizens couldn’t really afford to have big ceremonies, so they did it on their own time or held a little party.”

“Mating sounds weird.”

I shrug, “Marriage is weird, Kakarot. It’s all just different customs.”

“I guess you’re right.”


	16. Chapter 16

“But still,” He says, eyeing me again, “What does this have to do with me? I understand that… Oh.”

I glance at him, “What is it?”

“You don’t… I’m gonna die, eventually. So…”

I shake my head, “Not necessarily,”

He sits up and looks back at me with questioning eyes.

I shrug, “If you’re my ‘soulmate’, as humans call it, I can share my immortality with you. But we won’t even know until it happens, so it’s really pointless in telling you. I only am because I want you to know. I don’t want to just suddenly grant you immortality without your knowledge or consent. That would be unethical.”

“I want to, if it means I get to spend the rest of forever with you.” He nods excitedly.

I close my eyes and sigh, “You’re young and naive, so I’ll tell you as gently as I can. Immortality fucking sucks,” I sit up, holding onto his hand, “All of your friends whither and die, pets die so quickly you can’t even enjoy their existence because 10 years to me feels like about 100 days to you.” 

I hop out of bed, and go to the fridge, offering Kakarot a drink as he follows me to the table. We sit down, looking at each other pensively.

“You stopped aging young.” He comments.

I nod, “Nineteen.”

“You looked old for a nineteen year old then. When I was nineteen I looked like a noodle compared to how I look now,” He holds out his arms, examining his biceps.

I nod, “That’s another reason it was so hard for me to catch up. My teenage body was so small I couldn’t handle much muscle mass until I trained out of it,” He eyes me and I grin with strain, “Yes, Kakarot, that’s why I’m short. I’m sure you noticed that you started to grow much faster after you were past twenty.”

He nods, “Still, I wasn’t as short as you. I guess that’s just our genes.”

“Yes that is probable. No two Saiyans had the same body. It seems strange because we look quite similar, compared to what others looked like. We had stout and round warriors and also ones that were over seven feet tall. Seeing us all in a group was entertaining at the least,” I chuckle. “I guess I could’ve turned out worse,” I examine my own arms, smirking, “I could’ve been a noodle like you.”

He slams his hands on the table playfully, “Hey! I’m not a noodle anymore! I’m strong-man!”

I laugh into my hand as he stands up and lifts his chair over his head, “Of course you are, Kaka,” I motion for him to sit down again. “I’ll tell you what, let’s make this a game. I’m almost entirely certain that eventually you’ll be an immortal just like me, so it’s only a matter of time. You’ll be able to tell for sure when you have this.” I stand up and turn my back to him, lifting my shirt and lowering the waist of my pants to show my tail scar.

“I already have a scar there, Vegeta. All Saiyans had a tail, didn’t they?”

I groan, “Not that you moron! The birthmark!” I point right to it with my index finger.

“Oh…” He kneels down behind me, cocking his head to one side to examine it. “It looks like a crescent moon.”

“I’m aware.”

“So when you make me immortal that will show up around my tail mark?”

“Indeed.”

“Huh. Weird,” He pokes at it gently, running the pad of his thumb around the flesh surrounding the nub of my tail. I clench my eyes and bite back the sounds that threaten to make their way to the surface.

“Oh! Sorry!” He must have felt my back tense up, “I, uh, kinda forgot about that…”

I grit my teeth, unclenching my back, “It’s no problem, Kaka. You didn’t hurt me.”

He stands up, rubbing the back of his neck, “I know I didn’t hurt you... I just, uh…”

“Spit it out, Kakarot.” I cross my arms.

“IusedtotouchmyselfthereIdid’ntwantyoutothinkIwastryinganythingrude.”

I spin on my heel, facing him, “Excuse you?”

“I used to touch… Touch my tail spot when…” He buries his head between his shoulders.

I just shake my head with a smile and peck him quick on the lips, “It’s okay, Kaka. Let’s not worry about that for now. We’ve got more important things to talk about,” I hold onto his hands, leading him back to bed, “Let’s lay down.”

We jump into bed, sprawled out awkwardly but comfortably over each other. After a minute of silence, Kakarot sighs and runs his hand down his face.

“I don’t know what’s happening.”

“I think it’s pretty obvious what’s happening.” I look at him with a cocked eyebrow.

“No, I mean, what are we gonna do about our wives? Our families?”

I was expecting this, “They’ll die eventually, Kakarot. It won’t be a problem for much longer.”

“Vegeta! That’s terrible! I’m not just gonna have an affair until Chichi dies,” He rubs his eyes in frustration, “And you have a healthy marriage with Bulma, I don’t want to ruin that for her, I don’t think she’d ever forgive me if I stole her husband.”

I shrug, “I wouldn’t call our marriage ‘healthy’, but compared to yours it is. Besides, Chichi said she was leaving you in a year anyway.”

He looks at me with desperation, “But Bulma! She’s been my best friend since I was twelve years old, Vegeta! I don’t know what I’d do if she refused to talk to me ever again.”

“Kakarot if she’s your friend, she won’t be upset with you. If anything she’ll be upset with me. Which I can tolerate, especially if it means I can be with you uninhibited,” I adjust myself so I can nuzzle my face into Kakarot’s shoulder, “It’ll be alright. I promise. Besides, we have another six and a half years left in here. We have plenty of time to not worry about it,” He wraps his arms around me, turning and pulling me against his chest. I chuckle, “I’ve spent too long pretending around you, I’m not ready to have to keep pretending in front of everyone else, too.”

Kakarot sighs, lightly kissing my forehead as he thinks. 

“I guess you’re right. But I don’t think we have to stay in here that long. I’m gonna be itching to leave eventually.”

I nod, “That’s understandable. We’ll leave when you’re ready.”

“Thank you, Vegeta.”

I pull closer to him, “Hn.”

We sit silent for a minute, breathing each other in and enjoying the release of tension.

“Veg?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

I chuckle, “I was under the impression that those words were meant to be saved for a long-term relationship.”

“Forever is pretty long term, I think.”

I smile wider, kissing against his neck and shoulder, “Love you too, idiot.”

More silence. I begin to doze off before Kakarot nudges me again. I can feel his apprehension.

“What is it, Kaka?” I rub my eye.

“Veg… I was just wonderin’... Are we gonna, uh… Mate? Is that the right way to say it?” He looks into my eyes with a nervous smile. I feel a weird warm feeling in my chest before nodding.

“If I share my mark with you, we can mate if you want.”

“Why not now?”

I chuckle kind of sadly, “Well, if it turns out that I can’t share with you, and we mate… If you die then I’m not sure what’ll happen to me. Permanent matings, that have the bite and everything, those are soul-binding,” He cocks his head, confused.

“Meaning if one of them dies, the other does, too. And since I can’t stay dead for long, I’m not sure what will happen, if I’ll die and keep my body, be in purgatory… Or just feel hollow forever,”

I shift uncomfortably, “In all honesty, Kakarot, it scares the shit out of me. Not just being alone, but being without you,” I feel my face get hot, if I don’t shut up soon I’ll start to cry, “Even though I haven’t known you for a long time, there’s something about you that makes me feel safe.”

He pushes me away a bit, looking into my eyes, “‘Geta. That means a lot.”

I shrug, “It’s just the truth.”

“Can I kiss you again?”

“You don’t have to ask, Kaka,” I peck him chastely, “You have free reign as far as I’m concerned.”

He smiles and kisses me back, holding me a bit longer than I had him, “Is that why you weren’t mad at me when I touched your scar?” He asks quietly, a slight blush across his cheeks.

I feel my own face heat up, “I guess so. It felt nice. I haven’t really ever done anything akin to masturbation because I never saw the need,” I smirk a little, mumbling against his neck, “But I see the appeal now.”

He chuckles nervously, his chest rumbling close to mine, “But I hardly touched you.”

I rest my head on his shoulder, nuzzling closer, “Hmm, I know that,” I pause, “I’m not ready to make love with you, Kakarot, but I will be soon, I think. I guess until then we can just… Experiment, or something.”

He sits up, rubbing a calloused hand over his blushed cheeks, “Gee, Veg, I thought it was gonna take convincing for you to let me touch you. I’m alright not makin’ love yet, too,”

I snake my arms around his waist, brushing a thumb lightly over his scar, earning a strained gasp, “experimenting is nice, though.” He comments through gritted teeth.

He arches into me, trying to hold back moans. I smirk and let him go, only to have him whine in protest.

“If I don’t stop now, you won’t stop at all. It’s better to wait for now.” I mumble against his skin, running my hands up and down his back.

“But Veg,” He complains, “I’ve been waitin’ for ya ta touch me for so long. Please?”

I note that he seems to regain his accent when horny. Interesting.

I kiss his forehead, “Later, Kaka. It’s been a long day already. Do you want to lay down?”

He eyes me with a smile, “We’ve only been awake for a few hours, Veg. I thought ya wanted ta wait before takin’ me ta bed.”

I scoff, “‘Taking you to bed’ is not napping. And there’s nothing wrong with napping, right? You said it yourself, we’re not in here to train.”

“I did say that, didn’t I?” He rubs his chin, “Sure, I guess so, but what about all the stories? I wanna know everything.”

“I literally have forever to tell you everything." I look at him with a raised eyebrow. He pouts.

“That’s not a definite, Vegeta. What if you can’t make me immortal? Then what?” He crosses his arms, laying back down with a huff.

“Hey! Don’t get pissy with me. If I can’t then we’ll know soon enough. And then I’ll set aside a bunch of time to tell you about everything you want to know.”

He turns to his side, pulling my back against his chest, “Veg? What will you do if you can’t?”

I sigh, “I’m not sure, Kaka. I know it won’t be fun, though. I don’t even like the thought of losing you.”

“Aren’t you used to losing people, though?”

I nod, “It never gets easier, though. I guess the best way to describe it is that the grieving comes in waves,” I scootch myself back farther to be flush against him, “I try not to think about it because one thing leads to another and I’m a numb pile of sadness for a few days. I think about everyone I’ve lost, all the way from my father to Nappa.”

“It scares me.” He whispers into my neck.

I close my eyes, silently agreeing with him, “I know. It scares me too. I need you to know that you’re going to lose every single one of your friends. You’ll be there to see Krillin die. Yamcha. Even your sons. You have to watch your kids grow old and die, Kakarot. I don’t want that for you.”

“I know. I’m not ready for that, but I still have a long time before that happens. I’m sure that I’ll be alright, with you to help me cope with the grief.” He wraps his arms around my waist and settles his head in my hair.

I just breathe, unsure of what to say. I don’t want to confirm his fears, but it’s a truth that he has to face eventually. I want to protect him, and that might be dangerous now. He loves his friends and family, that much is obvious to everyone. He’s lost them all before, but had the help of the dragon balls to revive them.

The dragon balls don’t revive people if they die from natural causes. I’m stuck between having an eternal partner and having the two of us forever, connected by the soul, unyielding devotion to each other and no one else, or saving Kakarot the emotional agony that comes along with losing close friends, watching as his home dies and withers away in front of his eyes. 

Kakarot’s heart is too soft. Too pure to handle that pain. He’s poured his entire mortal life into protecting these people, and they will all die, eventually. He’ll feel powerless. And really, he is. There is absolutely nothing he can do to stop the inevitable death of everything he knows, with the exception of me and me alone. 

A huge part of me is emotional over the fact that he thinks that I’m worth all that loss. For once I feel like I belong to someone. I belong somewhere.

I nod to myself.

“What is it?” He asks, running his nose over my shoulder.

I shake my head and smile. 

“You’re a clueless idiot, thinking that I’ll be enough for you.”

He doesn’t argue with the idiot part, but hugs me closer, “You’ve been more than enough for me so far, and we weren’t even together,” He sighs, “Vegeta, would you stop? I think you’re perfect. Stop selling yourself short and just let me love you, dammit!”

I grab onto his hand, holding it to calm him down, “I know, Kaka. It’s just that loving me comes with consequences that I really don’t want you to deal with. You’re the perfect one. I don’t want to ruin you.”

“You shut up, Vegeta. We’ll do nothing but improve each other and make each other happy, you understand? I’ll do anything for you, and that includes carrying the weight of death on my shoulders forever. I know that you’d help me through it. Because I know you love me.”

I shake my head, “You’re so naive, Kakarot. Too trusting. How can you be so sure that I love you?”

He pouts against my back.

“Because you wouldn’t have told me if you didn’t.”


	17. Chapter 17

I falter a bit. The question was meant to be rhetorical, of course I love the idiot. But he does have a point.

“I guess you’re right.”

We sit in silence for a minute.

“We never ate the cake.”

I chuckle. Of course he’s thinking of food right now. I sit up with a smile, “Well, that’s no good. I do have a birthday coming up, so we should get right on that, don’t you think, Kakarot?”

He gets up behind me and scoots out of bed with a nod, “Can’t let that cake go to waste, now can we?”

I shake my head, still smiling, and follow him out to the kitchen where the frosted cake sits covered under a clear plastic bowl.

“Innovative.” I comment.

“I know, right? I’m a genius.”

I scoff, and am about to retort sarcastically, but I bite my tongue and admire him after sitting down at the table. 

He takes a long knife out of the knife block, but I don’t bother mentioning that it’s the completely wrong one. One meant for flaying _fish_ , but it isn’t hurting anything, so there’s no point.

He slices it right down the center, into two huge slabs. With not much grace he separates them onto plates, leaving crumbs and clumps of frosting everywhere. I smile and shake my head.

He stabs forks into the tops and brings them over, one in each hand. Setting mine down and moving to his side of the little table, he flattens his palms down.

“Make a wish, birthday boy.”

I chuckle airily and look down, “Is a wish really necessary? I’m quite certain I have everything I need.” I look back up to him with questioning eyes.

He waves his hand a bit, “But isn’t there something you want? There has to be at least one thing.” 

I shake my head with impatience, “There are a few things I want, but nothing that making a wish on a piece of cake would help me with.”

He looks at me with gentle eyes, “There’s no harm in trying, ‘Geta.”

I click my tongue, “I suppose so,” I take the fork out of my piece, ripping a big chunk off and bringing it to my mouth, “I wish… To have you as my forever.” I eat the bite, closing my eyes.

It did turn out delicious. 

I notice that his shoulders are hunched, and his face is all red.

“What is it?” I ask with my mouth full.

He scratches the back of his head like he does, “I just… I didn’t think you’d use a birthday wish on me. Seems like a waste.”

“Oh, shut up. You’re worth every single birthday wish,” I give him a side eye, “And I have a lot.”

He straightens up a small bit, and laughs nervously, bringing a hand to his neck, “Not gonna lie, Veggie, I kinda forgot about that for a second.”

I scoff and shake my head with a gentle smile, “You’re such an airhead. I can’t believe that you’re the person the universe decided to make me fall in love with.”

He tries to drown the flush in his face with large bites of cake. At one point he casually picks an eggshell from between his teeth, but doesn’t make a comment. Before long I join him, wolfing down cake faster than I can chew it. It really did turn out very well, aside from the annoying crunch of eggshell every so often.

We finish about the same time, except I don’t lick my plate clean of frosting before stacking them together and setting them in the sink. 

I sit back down and sigh, letting the food hit my belly. I gaze over to Kakarot, who seems to be in as much of a chocolate trance as me.

“Do you think Dende gave us lemonade?” He says distractedly.

I smack my forehead, “You’re too much.”

He flashes me his signature smile, and I can’t help but grin back.

 

Over the next few days, I do my best to try and explain what I remember about our Saiyan culture to Kakarot. He’s very interested, and that makes me feel good, but it drains me to think on it. Remembering what life was like before Kakarot waltzed in makes me realize how terribly miserable I was. He comforts me and holds me close whenever I get that tell-tale blank stare. He then offers me food, to which I rarely turn down. 

I never expected Kakarot to break me so easily. I thought it would take time for me to shed my hard shell of disdain and anger, but it broke apart so quickly it made my head spin a bit. Kakarot didn’t seem to notice, aside from the times I catch him staring at me with a strange, soft look in his eyes. When I would ask him about it he would shake his head and smile wider, and say, “Just… You.”

After questioning him a few times on his vague response, I gave up trying and just grinned back at him, which only made him stare at me with more love in his gaze.

Kakarot is strange at times. One moment we’re beating the shit out of each other, having a hell of a time, and the next he’s all over me, kissing me and holding me down, trying to force me to cuddle with him. For the most part I go along with it, because I’ve been waiting twenty years for Kakarot to treat me like this, I won’t stop him for anything.

My birthday went by with not many theatrics. Kakarot gave me a sloppy morning kiss and made me breakfast. We promptly sparred and he let me win, but I think he only did that so I would pin him down. 

I get out of bed for the seventh time after confessing to Kakarot. A whole week had gone by. Seeing him excitedly run to the bathroom and inspect himself after waking up every morning makes me happy and sad at the same time. He really wants to be with me forever, and he’s so hopeful, but every day I see the hope slowly weaken.

He gives me a strained smile as he leaves the bathroom. His shoulders are hunched.

“Not today?”

“No.”

I snake my arms around his waist and rest my head on his chest, “Don’t worry about it. Just try to focus on something else, like training.”

He pulls me in close, “But it’s so _hard_. I can’t stop thinking about it. I just want it so bad,” He pauses, “Do you think we could use the dragon balls?”

“Absolutely not.”

He whines and stoops to look up at me with pathetic puppy eyes, “Awe, Veg. But why?”

“Aside from the fact that there are too many risks that go along with it,” I sigh, “Dende removed immortality from the list of wishable wishes. Even if it was a good idea we wouldn’t be able to follow through,” I kiss his nose, “Just let it happen naturally,” I frown and look away, “You age faster if you stress about little things. So please try to stop.”

He looks at me sadly, “I’m sorry,” He pulls me to his chest, “I just love you so much. You’re so special to me.”

I pat his back, “You’re a sweetheart, Kakarot.”

He takes a deep breath, stepping away, “I think I need to go meditate for a while. Calm my nerves a bit.”

I nod and watch as he sits cross-legged outside. His back heaves a bit as he takes more deep breaths, but I can still feel his energy wiggling about, like he’s anxious about something. I decide to leave him be and let him work through his problems on his own.

I rub my forehead with the palm of my hand and go into the bathroom. While stripping down I notice that there are no towels in the cabinet, so I make my way back out into the main living area to grab one from the dryer.

I crouch down to open the machine, but pause. I smile and shake my head, deciding to watch Kakarot meditate for a second.

He’s surprisingly good at it. The turmoil he was feeling only a few minutes ago had evened out into a low state of consciousness. He flattened his energy so perfectly that it streams out and gently ripples his hair. 

He stops for a second, and turns to look at me. His eyes widen.

It slipped my mind that I’m naked. I chuckle awkwardly and get my towel, wrapping it around my waist before turning back around. I lean on the dryer, “Hey, Kakarot.”

“Ve… Geta? What are you doing?”

I shrug, “I was gonna take a bath and there were no towels,”

He nods dumbly, looking me up and down.

“Is there a problem?”

He shakes his head back and forth, pulling himself from his trance, “Nothing, nothing. Just… Mind if I… Uh, join you?”

I chuckle warmly and look down at myself, “I don’t see why not.”

He scrambles to his feet and pats himself down to straighten his clothes. He jogs past me as I lean down to fetch him his own towel.

Coming into the bathroom, he’s already completely naked and starting the bath up. I smile and shake my head, folding our towels and setting them on the toilet seat cover. When I turn around he’s pouring a bunch of soaps in, looking very much like a little kid. He settles right in the bubbles, leaning back with his eyes closed.

I get in right after, sitting across from him.

Despite being like this, nothing feels sexually charged, almost like we’re just happy to be doing something new. 

We don’t talk, we silently clean ourselves, wordlessly communicating with each other through body language. 

Once we’re both clean, we take a few minutes to relax. Somehow I find myself leaning against him, my head on his chest. He traces the contours of my lower back under the water, leaving faint trails of goosebumps.

I feel so close to him, sitting in the nude with someone casually is something I’ve never done, and it feels nice. Like there’s nothing to hide. It’s trust in it’s most basic form, completely exposing ourselves to one another with no hesitation, it feels wonderful.

I find myself distracted. I come back into reality with his arms gently wrapped around my waist, and I sigh, melding my back further into the contours of his torso.

He laughs to himself.

“What is it?”

He shakes his head and laughs harder, “It’s just - if someone told me eight months ago that I’d be sitting here with you, entirely naked in a bubble bath I think I would’ve pissed myself laughing.”

I shrug, “I don’t know what’s so funny about it. But I guess I was the only one that knew what was going on in my head.”

“Yeah…”

I twist to look at him, “I can tell you want to say something, what is it?”

He lifts his hand out of the water to rub at his neck, he gives me a nervous chuckle, “I think… I don’t know, as the days go on I want to make love with you more and more…” He nibbles on his lower lip, “And I know you’re not ready and I don’t want to rush you but, you’re just so beautiful and it drives me crazy.”

I blush deep and lean back into him, “I think you’re beautiful, too.” I sigh, “It means a lot to me that you’re respecting my wishes, Kaka. I wouldn’t trust anyone else like this.”

“I just… I really love you a lot, Veggie. I don’t want to ruin everything before it even starts.”

I chuckle, “You’re an idiot, but you’re my idiot. Don’t worry too much about it, alright? I know it’s hard to get used to, but I’m not the same Vegeta in here as I am out there. I’m not going to get mad at you over silly things. That’s not who I really am,” I squeeze his knee, “Sure, I can be bitter and angry sometimes, but it has nothing to do with you.”

“It’s because of how you’ve spent your whole life up to now.”

I nod, “Exactly.”

He stays quiet for a second, holding me just a bit tighter than before. I can feel his breath on my shoulder, and it feels cold compared to the bathwater, but it’s wonderful either way.

“Veg?”

“Hn?”

“I really do love you.”

My chest pangs weirdly at his words and my throat feels tight. Strange, that hasn’t happened before, “I love you too, Kakarot.”

“I want to spend forever with you, just like this,” He lays his head on my shoulder, holding me close again. The bit of water between us vanishes and we’re left completely connected. His body is scorching, “I’m just happy I get that chance in the first place.”

I push back into him further, wanting to get close as physically possible, “Me too, Kaka.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna be making chapters a bit longer now, since I know that it's a bit annoying to wait three weeks for only 2.5k words or less.

My chest keeps doing weird things. Whenever he says something to me, anything at all, my heart skips a few beats. It’s concerning if anything. It’s never happened like this.

We get out of the bath, finally, and dry off in the bathroom. This feels weird. It’s the only way I can describe it, weird. Nothing is sexual. We even hug a bit, standing stark nude against each other for a few minutes.

I lean my head against his still damp chest and sigh. I really like it in here.

He rubs his hands up and down my back, tracing my muscles and feeling the curve of my back. I try to do the same, but find that if I don’t clasp my hands together I’ll slip right down to the floor. My legs are jelly.

My chest feels so strange, the feeling of slipping down the stairs, but constantly. It hurts.

I sigh and try to calm my head, but it doesn’t do much other than make me more sleepy. The combination of the warm bath and being pressed against Kakarot like this makes my head swim.

“I’m tired.”

He laughs, only making me more drowsy. I smile, it sounds like a lullaby, “We woke up three hours ago.”

I rub my face into his skin, mumbling, “I know, but, I’m _feeling_ things.”

He laughs again, holding me at arm's’ length, “And that makes you tired?”

“Yeah, what of it?” I yawn and rub my eyes with tight fists. Not waiting for an answer, I pick my towel up off the floor and toss it in the hamper before strolling from the bathroom, across the living area, and to our bed. I can feel him watching me, but I’m too tired to care.

I pull on some boxers and a loose t-shirt and flop onto my side of the bed. I roll all the way to the middle and wait for Kakarot to join me.

He does, after eating something of course. He puts some boxers on and slips under the covers with me. I know that he’s not tired, but the fact alone that he wants to nap with me makes my chest pang again.

What the hell _is_ that?

I try to push it down but it only gets stronger, so I decide to ignore it the best I can and settle in next to my love.

At first, I’m just laying next to him, curling my whole body around his thick right arm, but I slowly migrate to his side.

But his ribs aren’t doing it for me either, so I lay myself between his legs and on his chest, completely on top of him. He’s not asleep yet, and he laughs at me, pulling me up by my underarms to kiss me on the nose.

He settles me back down and flings a heavy arm over me, and I’m trapped for the time being. It’s comfortable, at least, and before I even have a chance to tell him I love him, I’m asleep.

I roll out of bed to find Kakarot at the table with a mug in his hands. He’s got on a sweater I’ve never seen before, and he motions for me to sit across from him, gently pushing a separate mug my way.

I smile and step out onto the cold floor, my big shirt tickling at the backs of my thighs. I meet him at the table, relishing in how the warm cup eases my chilliness. I take a sip.

Coffee.

I close my eyes in satisfaction and suckle down more, before setting down a now half empty cup. I feel Kakarot press the tips of his toes onto the tops of my feet and I smile.

We both scootch our chairs in closer, wanting to get as much contact as possible. I didn’t expect to be playing footsie when I opened my eyes, but I am, and that’s a surprisingly happy thing. He smiles at me and leans his head on his left hand, looking at me sideways.

“So, Veg,” I nod at him over the rim of my mug, he continues, “Do you remember what your father was like?”

I find the question sitting strangely in my head. I don’t quite remember my father, aside from a few choice things.

I shake my head, “Not really,” I set down my cup, “I wasn’t as close to him as I probably should have been, but I was young and angry.”

“When did you find out he murdered your mother?”

Something really doesn’t feel right with Kakarot’s wording. It feels unlike him. And I’m not sure I told him about my mother.

In fact, I’m positive I didn’t. But I continue for conversations’ sake, “I was very young, thirteen, I think. I was angrier then than I was when I found out that I was immortal. I ignored him for weeks.”

Kakarot hums, “Do you regret that?” He runs a teasing finger over the lip of his cup. I swallow.

“I suppose. I couldn’t understand at the time why he would do such a thing, but as time has gone on I can grasp his thought process.”

He keeps running his feet along mine. It raises goosebumps along the length of my legs and I sigh.

“Do you remember when he died, Vegeta?”

I’m really put off by the strange inflection in Kakarot’s voice, but I can’t stop myself from talking, “Yes, he was assassinated when I was twenty-six.”

Kakarot nods, knowingly sipping on his drink. After a moment of contemplation, he looks me in the eyes. I can see now that he looks more awake. More energized. It brings me some comfort, knowing that my lover is doing well.

But still, the way he’s speaking to me.

“Aren’t you glad you made amends with him?”

I nod. He smirks at me, taking our empty cups from the table and carting them to the sink.

It takes a moment for my brain to process the things I’m seeing. Right there, happily flicking as he washes the dishes, is a thick, russet tail.

He turns his head, wiggling it in question.

“It came back last night. I feel like myself again, Vegeta, isn’t it great?”

I blankly stare at the appendage and nod, still soaking it all in. The last thing I had expected to happen was for his tail to grow back. What had triggered that?

I freeze. Kakarot had grown his tail back.

His tail has returned. That can only mean one thing. Shakily, I stand from my place at the table and creep over to him. He still watches me over his shoulder with that uncharacteristic smirk on his face.

I lift the edge of his hoodie.

There it is. There’s the mark.

I slowly let the fabric back down and straighten up to look at him in awe. He gives me a genuine smile and dries his hands before turning around fully.

I feel the beginnings of tears in my sinuses, but I can’t focus on them enough to shove them back down where they belong. Kakarot himself starts to cry, sparkly diamonds falling from his eyes in a way so beautiful it doesn’t seem of a mortal.

And it’s not. My own tears fall as he lunges forward to embrace me in a crushing hug. I hug him back.

The hug is too tight, far too tight. I’m having trouble breathing and I tap on his arms as a signal to let go.

He doesn’t listen. I slap at him harder and he only chuckles in response. Something isn’t right. Any other time I could fight back easily, but Kakarot’s completely rendered me helpless, and I cry out in a mixture of pain and desperation.

Everything goes black at the edges, and I fight to look at him, but as he readjusts me I see that this is not Kakarot.

It’s my father.

In complete shock, I gasp, and my lungs are constricted so tightly that the air that I forcefully pull in bursts them.

And all I can hear when I black out is the mocking timbre of my father’s laugh.

When I regain consciousness, I’m not in the chamber with my father anymore. The surroundings niggle at my senses, I know I’ve been here before.

I sit up and look about. I’m laying on Kakarot’s sofa, in his living room.

Completely befuddled, I look around. The walls, compared to the last time I was here, are entirely bare, not a single picture of Kakarot, his sons, or his wife.

I’m in different clothes now, as well. A sharp black business suit covers my whole body, reflectively polished shoes and all.

Nothing could get more strange than this.

I try to sit up, but I can’t. I close my eyes to take a deep breath, but when I open them up again, I’m in complete darkness. Now able to move, I pull my arms up, but they hit something hard a few inches above me. I flatten my palms against it, and I can only note that it feels like wood before a wail sounds in the distance.

It sounds so far away, like someone was underground. Am I underground?

I feel calm, strangely so. This would make me panic any other time, why is it now that I’m entirely catatonic?

The scream is getting clearer, but not by much. I recognize Bulma’s voice.

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” She sobs, “Damn that Goku. Damn him.”

I pound on the wood above me. I can’t just let her talk about my Kakarot like that! What did he do to deserve such harsh words from his best friend?

I have just enough room to bring my hands up to my face and attempt to rub the confusion away.

Of course, I’m in a completely different place when I pull them away. I’m back in the chamber, in my bed.

My bed. There is no Kakarot, the left side curtain hangs all the way to the floor. Why are our beds separate? I don’t remember moving them.

Shaking my head, I swing my legs down off the side of my bed and push the curtain aside.

Everything looks normal, that’s a start, but I can’t sense Kakarot anywhere, and that in and of itself is enough to give me anxiety. I step out, scanning the room. No Kakarot.

I check his bed, no Kakarot. He’s not in the kitchen, the pantry, or the void as far as I can gather. That just leaves the bathroom.

The door is shut, and I find that odd. Kakarot never shuts the door. He doesn’t care enough to go through the hassle. I tap on it with gentle knuckles, and it swings open, no one behind it.

Where in the world is he? I step in, looking around. He genuinely is nowhere to be found.

Holding my breath, I walk further in, toward the sink. I turn on the water, and it runs brown for a while before clearing. I shake my head, getting accustomed to the strange situation I’m in. I fill my cupped hands with hot water and rub my face down, trying to clear my head.

I do it a few times over, appreciating the feel of relieving my skin of a bit of stress.

Sighing, I lift my head to look in the mirror.

I’m greeted by my own face, but I actually look 2000 years old. I’m dusty, falling apart, white all over.

Shocked out of my gloves, I stumble back with a shout, tripping over the edge of the mysteriously now full tub.

I float out of my own body and watch myself dissolve in the bathwater. 

I jolt awake, sweaty and panting. What in the nine hells just happened?

Still panicky, I look around, eased a bit to see that Kakarot is to my left, as he should be. He had found himself on his side, probably moved about in his sleep, I guess.

Suspicious, I lift the covers to see that, yes, he is still in only his underwear, and that no, he doesn’t have a tail or the mark.

I scoot out of bed, careful not to wake him up, and walk to the bathroom. The door is open. Good.

I creep in, reluctantly making my way to the mirror. I close my eyes and take a deep breath to jump in front of it.

I see my normal, youthful face staring back at me. I release the breath.

Everything seems to be normal. Thank the gods.

I stride back to our joined bed, crawling in to see that Kakarot has returned to being on his back. I station myself back where I belong and settle in.

Kakarot giggles to himself. I smile, he must be dreaming.

Dreaming? He’s… He’s dreaming! I shoot up to prop myself on my hands. I inspect his face. Yes, definitely asleep. Definitely dreaming.

That’s what happened. It was just a dream… Just a dream.

I finally start to settle back in, and my eyes fly open.

It was a dream. My first dream.

My first ever dream in all my years… So this is what they were talking about in the legends.

He made me dream. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant one, rather a nightmare, but it was something. I’ve always heard that dreams are incredibly weird, and can sometimes freak you out if you’re not prepared.

I was so unprepared.

I lean over Kakarot again, looking down at his rugged face. He’s beautiful. Painfully so, even with that silly giggle still on his lips.

It happens without my thinking about it. I place my right hand on the left side of his chest, my left hand going up to cradle the right side of his face.

I lean in slow, realizing what’s about to happen.

I gently lay my lips on his for a second and pull away, something stirring within me and coming out of my mouth in a gentle beam of white light. I watch in awe as two tiny butterflies float from my mouth. I smile. They’re blue and orange.

They float themselves to Kakarot’s open lips and land there, turning to look at me as if to say goodbye, before turning around again and venturing into his mouth.

I sit on my haunches and wait. I have no idea what’s going to happen, but I know that _something_ is going to happen.

After a few seconds, Kakarot stirs a bit and snores loud, making me smile. A gentle white light emanates from his wide chest, glowing brightly for a few moments before dulling down and completely disappearing.

I watch in awe as his face changes ever so slightly. His eye bags dissipate into nothingness, the fine wrinkles around his eyes and mouth smooth out into the perfect alabaster of his skin. His hair softens and slightly straightens, and I run my fingers through it slowly. I thought it was soft before, but this is something incredibly new.

His cheeks plump up a bit, finally adding the finishing touch on the new Kakarot. My Kakarot.

Something heavy lifts from my chest that I never knew was there. Something about it makes me feel free, light enough that I’m almost floating.

Finally, I truly settle in, laying on top of him and noticing that I can now run our feet together like this, where before I had to deal with just his ankles. I fall into a dreamless sleep within seconds.

We wake up around the same time, I only know because he’s beneath me, smiling down at me and running his fingers through my hair. I purr a bit, unwilling to get up just yet. But then I remember what I’d done last night, and I lift up to inspect his face even further, now that the chamber is light enough to see the details.

“Did we sleep through the whole day? Is it tomorrow?”

I nod at his silly question.

“Wow, I guess I _was_ tired, huh?”

I nod again, a big dumb smile on my face. I try my best to hide my elation, but the more I look at him the warmer my chest feels.

He doesn’t sound any different, and that fills me with a joy I didn’t know I would get from that simple constant.

“I guess you were,” I roll off of him and energetically hop out of bed, bounding toward the kitchen with a newfound spring in my step. “What do you want for breakfast?”

He creeps out of bed not far behind me, “I usually make breakfast, hun.”

“I know,” I pull a pan from the cupboard, “I’m just in a good mood. I needed that nap.”

He chuckles, “I guess you did,” He comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his head on my shoulder, “How about bacon egg and cheese sandwiches?”

I nod, “Of course. You go relax, and I’ll call you over when it’s finished.”

He hums and pecks me on the cheek before strolling to the bathroom with his hands behind his head. I smile and take everything I need out of the fridge and get to work.

Cooking goes by quickly while I’m thinking of other things. I’ve made 15 sandwiches already when I hear a shout and what sounds like the towel cabinet falling over.

I don’t move, I just keep assembling our breakfast and wait.

It takes him longer than I expected. I thought he was going to come careening out of the bathroom at top speed and knock me to the floor with a huge hug, but he just comes out, hand on the door frame, seeming much paler than usual. I smile at him, “Breakfast is nearly ready,”

He nods, unmoving. I wait longer for him to crack, to yell, to tackle me, anything. But he stays silent.

For far too long. I look back up at him with concerned eyes, “Is everything okay?” His head is down, face entirely shielded by his bangs. He doesn’t say anything.

I set the pan in my hands back on the stove, moving closer to him, “Kaka?”

As soon as I’m within arm’s reach, he jets out and plows into me, crashing the two of us to the floor. There’s what I wanted. I feel a weight leave me and I take a deep breath.

He shudders, and I feel wetness staining my face. I purr and hold him tight to me, singing tiny songs in his ear and wait for him to calm down.

After a few minutes of constant sobbing and sniffling, he lifts his ruddy, now youthful face and smiles wide at me, tears still steadily rolling down his cheeks.

“Vegeta!” He screams at me, coming real close to my face with his dorky smile.

“What is it?” I ask as if I have no idea.

He shakes me back and forth, “We get to spend forever with each other! Think of all the things we get to do! The places we can go!” He blathers on for a bit about everything under the sun, still crying. Meanwhile, I make a pyramid of sandwiches and set them on his spot at the table. He’s still on the floor, rambling away in tears. I lean over him and smush his cheeks.

“Eat, please?”

He nods excitedly and hops up to the table, shoveling food in his mouth continuously. I swear that one day he’s gonna choke. I smile affectionately at him. He swallows and smiles back.

“Are you ever going to stop crying?” I ask, picking up a single sandwich.

He shakes his head ‘no’. I chuckle, “Of course you’d say that,”

I watch him eat, and though I know it’s weird to find something like that beautiful, I can’t help but admire everything about him. This is what he looked like all those years ago, before he had a son, before I came to Earth. This is a Kakarot I’ve never met before, and I love him.

“You look stunning, Kakarot.” I lean against the counter, crossing my arms. He swallows and looks at me for a moment before wiping his eyes and looking away.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” He leans back in his chair, inspecting his arms. He laughs, “At least I don’t look like a noodle.”

I chuckle, “Yes, it looks like you’ve kept your normal body. You are a bit shorter though, thank Dende.”

He looks at me curiously and stands, walking over to look down at me. He scratches his head, “I’m not used to seeing you this tall. It’s weird.”

I pull him into a gentle hug, “Things will be weird for a while. You’ll get used to it soon enough, though.”

He hugs me back, pushing his face into my hair, “I love you, Veg. I love you so much.”

I push him away, back toward the table. It hurts to do it, but he needs to finish eating, “I love you too, Kaka.”

He silently finishes eating, “What made you do it?” He asks quietly. His tears have slowed a bit, but not much. He tosses his plate in the sink and drags me back to bed, tossing me on it and following right behind. He nuzzles me, hugging so tight that I can’t help but smile at his silliness.

“I had a dream last night,” I answer, and he looks at me strange, and I realize I’ve never told him that bit about immortality, “I’ve never had a dream before. So when it freaked me out and I woke up in the middle of the night, all I wanted was for you to comfort me,” He nods, urging me on, “And it made me realize, I want you there with me whenever I need you. And I know I would’ve needed you longer than your mortal life would allow, so I fixed it.”

He buries his face in my hair, “You started out hating me. I can’t believe this is where we ended up.”

I nod, “I saw a forever with you, and I know that I need you by my side. I need you as my partner forever,” I bring my hand up to gently tug at his hair, “I’m literally incomplete without you now. We’re going to be like this forever, Kakarot.”

He hums, smelling my hair, “I wouldn’t have it any other way, Veg.”

After a few moments of comfortable silence I turn over and hold his face in my hands, “Kakarot, I think it’s time.”

He looks at me strangely, but his smile is still going strong, “Time for what?”

I blush and look away, “I promised you that if I gave you the mark that we could mate.”

His eyes widen just a bit, “Uh, you want to…?” He shifts uncomfortably.

I shake my head, “That’s the last step. But I think we should start the ritual now, don’t you?”

He tucks into me, rubbing his face all over my chest, “I thought you said it was just a battle, and then we… Yeah.”

I nod, “I did, but it’s a little bit more than that. I think we both know that you’ll win that fight, but we have to do other things first.”

“Like what?” He pulls me in close.

“Well, we’ve already completed the first part. We’ve been living together and getting to know each other for long enough that we can move on to the second part,” I sit up, trying my best to remember, “We have to groom each other. Usually, it was done with tails because it was a sign of trust to let someone touch your tail…” I think, “But I think that it’ll work just as well without them.”

He sits up next to me, “So, what? We have to brush each other's hair?”

I nod, “In a sense, yeah. Just with our hands.”

He contemplates for a moment before turning around and leaning his back into me. I just smile and run my fingers through his hair over and over, gently undoing tangles and twisting the strands in my palm. His hair is soft and shiny, and I’m pleased beyond belief that there’s no more silver anymore. I hum to myself and play with it, braiding it lazily and brushing it out over and over. He leans his head back against my shoulder and starts to purr.

I gently dig my fingertips into his scalp, tugging at his roots. He purrs louder, turning his head in to kiss my neck. I have to push him away a bit.

“Kaka, stop… It’s making me want to take you now.” He chuckles and pushes back into me, kissing and nipping at my throat again.

“We don’t gotta wait, ‘Geta,” His seductive whispering is a lot to handle, “I didn’t even wanna wait this long. I need ya.”

I can’t help the instinct to push into his mouth, “We do have to wait,” My voice is shaky, “It’ll screw up the whole mating process.”

I can feel him smile into my skin, “So we can’t make love, but can we do other things?”

I have a feeling that I know what he’s suggesting, but the thought is overwhelming, “Grooming each other constitutes as other things.”

He chuckles quietly, flipping himself around so smoothly that I don’t even notice until his hands are on my shoulders, gently pushing me back to lean against the fluffy pillows. I try to fight against it but I’m not committed at all. Doing things like this won’t ruin the ritual, so why stop him?

He leans in and kisses the other side of my neck, sucking gently to leave a small bruise. He trails kisses down my neck and growls quietly when my shirt gets in the way.

His hands find my hips and they slide up my skin all the way to my chest, lifting my shirt away. I raise my arms when it gets high enough and let him pull it off and toss it to the side. He continues down my neck and chest, taking a second to nip at my collarbones.

He individually kisses each of my abs, and I can’t help but laugh a little bit. He’s silly, but I feel so loved that it doesn’t even matter. He shifts himself down and kisses around the hem of my boxers, that I just notice are straining and uncomfortably tight. I wiggle around a bit subconsciously, and that only drives him on more. He gently bites at the tender skin just beyond my hips, leaving another bruise.

Watching him go about his business like this is intoxicating. He’s completely in his own world, worshiping my body freely and shamelessly. His thumbs tease at my waistband and I twitch again, urging him further.

“‘Geta?”

I lace my fingers into the hair at the back of his head, “What is it?”

“Can I?”

I pull a bit tighter. The innocence in his voice is astounding, considering what he’s asking permission for, “You can do whatever you like, Kaka,”

Without hesitation, he pulls my boxers down, letting my arousal free. It falls to rest against my stomach and he takes a minute to look at it.

I chuckle, “It’s impolite to stare.”

He shakes his head to refocus, “Yeah, sorry. You’re just… Wow.”

I rub my thumb back and forth across the top of his head, “All yours?”

“I, uh,” he swallows, suddenly nervous, “I’ve never…” He shakes his head, “I’ve never done this before.”

I move my hand from the top of his head to hold his chin, “You do whatever feels right. Go at your own pace, okay?”

He nods a bit, looking up at me, “I love you, Veg.”

I smile down at him, pulling him up to kiss his lips, “I love you too.”


	19. Chapter 19

He pulls away for just a second before going in to kiss me one last time, and moves back down my body. He kisses around my hips, unintentionally teasing me, I can feel the strain in my arousal become almost painful.

He stares at it again before taking a deep breath and going down on me, gingerly taking the head into his mouth. I sigh and do my best to keep from bucking upward, but he feels the twitch in my hips and brings a warm hand down on me, running soothing circles with his hands.

The amount of gentleness is astounding, I thought he would start out rough and then calm down, but he still seems nervous. My fingers find their way into his hair, curling around the strands and tugging a bit.

He takes another deep breath through his nose and dips down lower, flicking his tongue out for some extra slip.

His mouth is so warm and wet, it almost feels like a vagina. But seeing his head bob up and down in my lap gives me a different feeling. Something swells in my chest much like earlier, and I have to ball my free hand up to resist forcing him down. He seems to naturally know what to do, even though I doubt his wife has ever given him a blowjob before.

He closes his eyes and flicks his tongue again, right along the spot just under the tip. It sends shivers down my legs and I can’t stop the jerk upward. I feel him chuckle just a bit before curling his hand that was once caressing me around my hip into a borderline bruising hold. I bite my lip.

It’s too hot. His hand, his lips and his tongue. I furrow my brow in an effort to keep quiet, but when he dips all the way down and holds himself there for a moment, I can feel his throat trying to get rid of me. I moan through my bit lip, and much to my displeasure it sounds a lot more womanly than I had hoped.

He keeps going despite my noises, going all the way down to take me into his throat over and over. My toes curl on instinct as he adds his other hand to my shaft, stroking in tandem with his mouth. The double stimulation makes my vision go blurry. I let my head fall back into the pillows as I arch my back, all my muscles clench as I try to hold back the warmness in my belly.

It’s been such a long time and Kakarot’s mouth feels so good that I only last a few minutes.

I feel myself release, my vitality pouring past his lips in sticky ropes. He swallows and takes me in again, suckling the rest of the saltiness down around my slowly softening cock.

I’m sensitive, and his continued sucking makes me twitch again, “Haah, Kakarot!”

He pulls off me with as much grace as one can while coming up from a blowjob and licks his lips, “S-sorry, Veg, you… You taste really good.” He pulls himself up next to me, flipping us over so I lay on top of him.

“Thanks, I suppose,” I’m still having a hard time catching my breath. I feel his fingers lace into my hair and I purr, “What’re you doing that for?”

He chuckles against the top of my head, softly pulling tangles from it with his big fingers, “It’s my turn to brush your hair, silly. We gotta keep up with the ritual, don’t we?”

In my orgasm induced stupor I had completely forgotten what we were doing before. I laugh at my own airheadedness, “We do.”

I settle into him, relaxing against his warm chest and appreciating the fingers running along my scalp.

They only tug for a few minutes, but he continues even after his hands effortlessly glide through my hair. I refuse to fall asleep again. We’ve been sleeping so much recently, and I have no idea why. I don’t even remember what day it is.

But he’s so comfy it’s hard to resist.

“I love you, Vegeta.”

His voice sounds strange. I lean up to look at his face, only to find him crying again, “What’s wrong?”

He sniffs, looking off to the side, “I just keep thinkin’ about how I get to be with you like this literally forever. It’s… A lot to take in.”

I nod, entirely understanding where he’s coming from. After spending so long virtually alone, knowing that I have Kakarot by my side now, as my partner, is relieving and overwhelming. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off me, and I’m sure he can feel it too.

I can’t help but wonder if things will change. I mean, I know that on the outside, where our families are… That will most definitely change. But between us, I don’t know if we’ll stay the way we are, or if we’ll grow so close that we end up being practically the same person. I hope that it’s somewhere in between.

The ritual is bound to bring us closer together, but we can’t continue it without leaving the chamber. I’m pretty sure that Kakarot will get that feeling soon enough, the itching to leave. And the mating ritual has already begun, so I know that before long we’ll start to feel a pull at our souls. We’ll be all that more anxious to go out and finish what we’ve started.

I shake my head when I realize that I’ve left him hanging, “I know, Kaka. It’ll all be okay, though. No matter what happens, we’re never leaving each other’s side. We’re always going to be able to protect each other and know that we’re safe,”

He sighs into me again, slithering his arms around me and pulling me close as he rolls to his side. I look up at him, “You okay?”

He nods dejectedly, “We’re gonna lose everyone.”

I feel my stomach turn at the thought, “I know, Kaka. I know,” I pull him in, resting my head on his broad chest, “I’ll be here, though. Always. I’m gonna do my best to help you through it.”

“I’m glad.”

“Mm,”

We don’t fall asleep, but we lay in each others arms long enough for the lounging to be considered a nap. I’m growing sick of laying down. We bathed not long ago, so that isn’t a priority, but my bones itch for some training.

“Kakarot.”

He shifts a bit, “I know, me too.”

We silently get out of bed and dress in out training gear. It’s been a long while since this has been on, the tightness of my spandex is a welcome sensation.

I’ve been going without my gloves nearly all the time now, they also seem like a weight that I’ve shed. I don’t need them anymore. There’s enough comfort and self-confidence now that I don’t think I’d wear them even for a normal battle.

We beat the absolute living hell out of one another. We have an unspoken agreement that we won’t hold back. Not only because that’s never been our style anyway, but it’s been a long time since we’ve had a serious fight.

We spar for what seems like hours. By the time we’re done, we’re immobile on the floor, bloodied and bruised to hell and back. We don’t bother crawling to the pantry for the jar of senzu, the pain we feel is so refreshing that we wouldn’t dare think of fixing it.

We slowly make our way to the bathroom, though, and help each other undress.

We’re only able to stand after laying under the boiling stream of the shower for a while, the water loosens our muscles just enough for us to run a bath and hoist ourselves in there. I decide that once I get my basic motor control back, that it’s time for dinner. A hefty dinner.

Kakarot got out first, drying himself halfway and trudging out into the living area with his towel slung around his shoulders. I wait a few more minutes until the water clears it’s fogginess and cools down to a reasonable temperature. I’m feeling a lot more mobile as I dry off, my arms don’t burn nearly as much as they did half an hour ago.

Kakarot is in bed, of course. I don’t bother kicking him out, he’s been overwhelmed by just about everything the last few days, he deserves some time to relax a bit.

To be fair, I’ve been overwhelmed too, but I’d rather not take out my thoughts on the sheets. That, and I haven’t eaten a considerably large meal in a hot minute.

I slip some boxers on and busy myself with throwing a bunch of food together. Two Saiyans after a spar as intense as that need a shit ton of food to be back at one hundred percent.

I make pasta again, the stuff from the cans (there seems to be a lot of those, huh?), and while that simmers away I throw some meat in a pan with boxed broth. After those are on I make sandwiches in between the cook times.

I end up not having to coax Kakarot out of bed because the scent of food does it for me. He passes by the counter and picks up a sandwich, kissing me on the forehead.

He sits at his spot at the table and eats it in a few bites, looking uninterested and tired.

When the canned pasta is finished I pour it in halves into big mixing bowls. I don’t wait to give Kakarot his, he’s practically screaming with his body language that he’s ravenous. I can hear him slurping away when I turn around to poke at the meat.

An hour and a half later, we find ourselves happily sated and burdened with a big pile of dishes to do. After sitting to digest for a minute we wordlessly clean up. We wash, rinse, and dry all of the dishes, and Kakarot’s brow is furrowed for a moment before he puts his hands on his hips and looks at me quizzically.

“What’s the third step?”

It takes me a second to figure out what he’s talking about, “Oh, we give each other gifts.”

“Gifts? We have to buy presents?”

I shake my head and chuckle, pulling him into a loose hug, “No, we make or find something. Kind of like how Earth birds sometimes do.”

He shifts his weight from foot to foot, “Like penguins?”

I run my nose along the ridge between his pecs, “Just like penguins.”

“We have to leave for that, don’t we?”

I nod, “Yeah. We’re not in a rush, though. We have all the time in the world to do that. Why? Do you want to leave?”

He shakes his head, holding me a bit tighter, “Not yet. I’m not ready to face Chichi yet.”

The mention of his wife takes me by surprise. I hesitate for a moment, “You’re going to tell her?”

Kakarot hesitates back, “I’m… Not sure. Should we just tell everyone all at once? Get it over with?”

I can tell that his lack of surety with his family is giving him a bit of stress, and I understand. I’m just as nervous about Bulma and the kids. I’m specifically worried about Bra… Trunks is already an adult, but she’s still so young, I’m not sure she’ll understand the situation. What am I supposed to tell her?

All of me hopes that she doesn’t take it too hard. As far as she knows, Kakarot is the one thing that brings me stress. I can’t imagine what will be going through her mind when she finds out.

I have the fear of God in me that my kids will be upset. As much as I use the tough love approach, Trunks and Bra mean the world to me, the last thing I want is for them to be mad at me enough to come off speaking terms.

I ignore his question, “What about your boys?”

He’s quiet for a minute, “I… Goten will be fine, but I’m not too sure about Gohan.”

“Goten?”

He pauses longer, trying to piece together a proper sentence, “Yeah, he’s uh… Uh, I’m not…”

“He’s gay, isn’t he?”

He nods and I can’t help but laugh a bit, “I guess it’s genetic.”

“I’m nervous about Gohan, though. He’s such a smart man but I still worry about the things that Chichi has taught him.”

I rub my hands up and down his back, “I’m sure it’ll be alright. You got me to crack, your son can’t stay mad at you for too long. I thought you would be most worried about your wife.”

He slowly starts swaying back and forth, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, “Honestly? I’m not as anxious about it as I probably should be. I’ve already ruined everything, so I don’t see how actually going through with it would change anything. I think she might try to take Goten away from me, though.”

I sway with him, “What do you mean?”

He takes a deep sigh, “Well, I know for a fact that as soon as she finds out that she’ll want to divorce as soon as possible… And since Goten isn’t 18 yet… I don’t know, something having to do with custody and all that.”

“Hm,” I let the topic dwindle away, stressing about his wife is the last thing I want Kakarot to do now. I just want him to focus on the more important and permanent things. Not out of selfishness or anything, I’m not jealous of the woman in the slightest, but seeing my soon to be mate in such distress makes me worry.

“I think it’ll be fine. When do you want to leave, though? There’s not much left to do instead train, and I’m certain that’s not the first thing on your mind right now.”

He stops swaying, “Soon, I think. I want to think about what I’m gonna do for that gift first, I want to make it perfect,”

I avoid telling him that I already have a gift in mind, one really that I’ve been contemplating ever since I learned about the mating ritual. I guess he’s gonna have to wait, just like me.

“Vegeta?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

I smile to myself, “I love you too.”

We do slowly make out way back to bed, but I still refuse to sleep. I want to stop being so lazy, but everything has been so relaxed and calm that it’s hard to not feel sleepy.

Instead, I watch Kakarot draw again. It’s been awhile since last time, so I just gaze over his shoulder as he does rough sketches in a drawing pad from the closet with blunt sticks of charcoal. He finds and shapes proportions so easily, it’s simply mesmerizing to watch. On occasion he nibbles at his bottom lip absently prejudging his next stroke and always executing it perfectly.

The charcoal dusts about and he smudges away at it with his fingertips, leaving black marks on his hands. He doesn’t seem to mind, in fact, he takes a moment to take a look at them, as if they themselves are a form of art.

I think about how we’re running out of things to do. The closet definitely holds a vast source of entertainment, but the both of us are becoming a bit stir-crazy. Training is definitely always an option, but that isn’t what we came here for. We only train as much as we would on the outside, and that takes up so little time that our days are left relatively empty, filled with eating and sleeping. An unhealthy combo at the least. I have to admit that I’m itching to leave probably just as much as Kakarot, though neither of us will admit it.

It’s the fear of our families keeping us away. The thought is sad, but my son and daughter… My wife; they’re all waiting for me to come back and live the normal routine with them again, but I know that I can’t, especially after completing a spiritual bond with another person that I’m taking as my mate. I’ll have to leave Capsule Corp, more than likely, and I’m really not sure where we’ll go from there.

We might live in Kakarot’s current house if his wife doesn’t take that from him as well. It is really a comfortable place, even the few times I’ve been over, the atmosphere just seeps positivity and happiness. It feels warm, just like Kakarot himself.

And if we don’t, then I guess we’ll have to figure something out ourselves.

 

* * *

 

 

Kakarot insists on staying for a few weeks longer. He’s clearly anxious about his wife, that’s the big reason that he wants to stay, but I think he might be nervous about the rest of his friends as well. I’m not too sure about where they would stand on the issue, and frankly, it doesn’t affect me as much as it does him. He’s known most of those people since he was a child, so I can understand why he would care about their opinion so much.

But regardless of whether they approve or not is irrelevant. We’re already going to spend forever together, and in a few thousand years, the possible ire he will receive from them will be a distant memory. I’m sure he’ll miss them. I miss a lot of my previous guards and groundskeepers, but the pain will fade and he’ll get past it. He’s got me to lean on after all, and I know that I’ll help him when he needs it.

Personally, I know that he’ll be inconsolable for quite a while. Once he starts to lose people the reality will set in and he’ll be in shock. It won’t be good for his immediate mental health, but maybe He’ll be more keen on leaving the planet if all of his family is gone.

I know that it seems cold. I do love my family and I dread the day that I have to see them go, but I’m so used to it that it’s almost expected. It’ll hurt, I know it will, but I will be better able to handle myself than Kakarot. He’ll be a mess, and if I have to look past the deaths of my family to keep him on the ground that’s what I’ll do. I’ve always cared about him more. He’s one of our kind. They aren’t.

We end up spending most of our time left training half to death every day. We beat the fuck out of each other and only take senzu beans when absolutely necessary. The constant soreness in my muscles is comforting and familiar, and I know that Kakarot feels the same by the way he smiles and sighs right as we lay down for bed.

After a whole month of this routine, we lay down in bed again, groaning in satisfaction over out pained bodies. I hear Kakarot chuckle quietly to himself.

“What is it?”

He turns over, smiling wide enough that I can see his teeth poke through and kisses me on the forehead, “I’ve decided what your present is.”

I can’t help but grin, “Oh?”

He nods, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling us closer together, “Yup. And you’re gonna love it.”

I don’t have the chance to say anything else before he’s quietly snoring. I kiss his nose and fall asleep myself.

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning we finally decide that it’s high time to get ready to leave. While packing our things back up, Kakarot expresses his concern about his wife to me again, and I do my best to put his mind at ease, but I know that Kakarot is excitable and won’t calm down until it’s done.

I think about what time it is on the outside. It should be evening on the same day we left. Normally I wouldn’t have an issue staying in here for as long as I need, but I feel like Kakarot’s anxiety is getting to me a small bit. I’m just as eager to leave as he is.

I push my half of the bed back over to where it was before after gathering my bag that had made its way to lean against the side of my bedside drawer.

Through the canopy, I hear Kakarot take a deep breath and sigh. I mentally agree with him before walking out from behind my own curtains, capsule pack in hand. He looks at me with an unreadable expression for just a second before quietly sighing and turning back around to finish packing the last of his things.

“What’s the matter?”

He sighs again, “It’s just… So much has changed in the last few months. It’s hard to keep up sometimes…” He pauses, chewing on his lower lip, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy about everything that’s happened with us… But it’s-”

“The wife.”

He looks down, “Yeah.”

I shake my head, “You need to calm down about her, Kakarot. Nothing she says or does changes the fact that she was going to leave you anyway. And even if she wasn’t going to, you’d still be with me in the long run,” I come closer, stopping his hands from distracting themselves in his luggage. I force him to look at me, “I love you, okay? Stop worrying. I’ll protect you.”

He closes his eyes and takes a steadying breath, “You’re right. I guess I’m more worried about the boys,” He looks off, losing focus, “Let’s just go,” He throws the rest of his things in his bag and zips it up, “The faster we get this over with the faster I’ll calm down. That and I’m going crazy being locked up in here.”

I hug him from behind, “Let’s go then.”

He nods, hiking his bag over his shoulder and turning toward the door, not responding before taking my hand and waving it up and down before sighing and letting it go again. I can tell my words didn’t really give him much ease, but I decide to leave it alone for now. He needs to resolve things the way he will without my help. I’m not too concerned for his mental health, given that I know for a fact that it’s only the tension left from being uncertain of what’s going to happen when we leave this chamber.

I shake my head. I’m thinking too hard about it, probably more than Kakarot himself is. It’s because he’s my chosen partner and mate, and because the mating ritual is nearly half complete, our souls are already melding together, shoving his feeling into my own so I know when he needs help.

It’s all so complicated.

I follow him out the door.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Vegeta does something incredibly childish for a man that's over 2000 years old.

The first thing I notice is that it’s dark. The second is that we’ve been breathing stagnant air for so many months that the fresh stuff almost burns my lungs. I take a deep, painful breath through my nose and let it out, looking around the surface of the Lookout. Dende is nowhere in sight. 

“I’m gonna go find him.”

Kakarot seems to read my mind and walks back toward the complex, disappearing behind a door and leaving me outside. I stare at the night sky until he returns. I didn’t even notice how much I missed it. The flecks of the dim stars fill me with a bit of nostalgia, and I can’t help but grin up at them. 

Yes, we definitely needed to leave. I craved being outside more than I thought. 

Kakarot comes up behind me, pressing a light hand against the small of my back, “I left him a note. We can go now.”

I take a deep breath, not looking away from the night sky, “I’m glad you’re here with me, Kakarot.”

He cocks an eyebrow at me, “Uhh, me too, Veg. I love you…”

I grin and close my eyes, “I love you too.” I gaze off the side of the Lookout, stalking toward it after pulling Kakarot’s hand into my own, “We should go, we have a lot to do.”

He hesitates, pulling his hand back, “Can we go see the kids first?”

I know in my heart that he’s not asking for no reason. Seeing Goten will give him a little bit of ease of mind, “Of course. Do you want to IT there?”

He debates within himself for a moment before nodding and taking my hand again, bringing his other to his forehead and focusing.

Instant Transmission is something I’ve never gotten used to. It’s a strange feeling that, aside from constantly throwing me into vertigo, makes me feel miniscule comparative to normal. It’s almost like I need to be squeezed down into an atom-sized particle to fit through the wormhole Kakarot makes for us. 

Regardless of the dizziness, we land in the guest bedroom, next to a sleeping Goten. Kakarot’s expression instantly softens at the sight. Anyone would be able to tell that he missed his son terribly. He sets his bags down quietly and makes his way to the bed, sitting on the edge and brushing the bangs from Gotens forehead. I just watch from across the room.

His thumbs gently pad away at Gotens cheeks, and his eyes search his sleeping face. 

Other than the fact that Goten has grown out of his born-in hair that made him a carbon copy of his father, the kid still looks just like Kakarot, even more so now that his biological clock has been turned back. Really he’s physically only a few years older than his son, and it shows.

Seeing the two of them together makes me happy. I can feel Kakarots energy slow itself after the months of vigorous ups and downs, he’s finally letting go of that extra tension in his back, his face is so much more smooth now that he has his son where he wants. 

After admiring his sleeping offspring for a few more seconds, Kakarot takes a deep, quiet breath and stands, turning to give me a gentle smile before picking up his things and leaving the room.

He pauses for a second, furrowing his brow, “You should go see them.”

I shake my head, “Trunks is awake still, and Bra is out cold in her grandparents’ room.”

He shrugs, “Just go see Trunks then, I’m sure he’ll be happy to see that you’re back.”

I click my tongue quietly, “Kakarot we’ve been gone for about fourteen hours. He didn’t miss me.”

“But you missed him.”

I can’t argue with that. I shake my head and close the door to the guest bedroom, making my way down the corridor toward Trunks’ room, where a white light bleeds from under the door jamb. I can hear the faint noise of what almost sounds like it could be CSI SVU. He gets that from his mother, the curious problem-solving mind. 

Or he could be plotting the perfect murder, who knows. Either way, I’m proud.

I gently rap my knuckle against the door, the hollow wood making a louder sound than it would if it was solid.

I hear a shifting from inside and he opens the door, eyes tired and hair disheveled, but I notice an open notebook sitting on the floor next to his bean bag chair. It takes me a moment to compose myself enough to hold back a grin. I’m not the same man out here as I am when I’m with Kakarot in the chamber, “I suggest you get to bed. I’m getting you up early for training.”

He glares at me for a second, “I thought you wouldn’t be back until next week, and what is Goku doing here?”

I ignore his question about Kakarot, “We figured that it would be more efficient for training if we were to use the gravity chamber,” I look around the room again, and back to Trunks, “Six AM tomorrow.”

His eyes widen, “But it’s already two!”

A lot of me has to fight against the urge to coddle him. I’ve spent the past eight months doing the same to Kakarot and I haven’t had to put of this façade in so long that it’s hard to adjust.

I swallow, “Then maybe you shouldn’t have stayed up so late,” I can’t wait to finish my thought before turning away, I can feel the front slipping and I don’t want things to look suspicious, having changes in mood so quickly in everyone else’s perspective. I have to tell myself that I can return to my normal, carefree personality in a week or two, when everyone finally knows about Kakarot and I, “I’m waking you up anyway, so make sure you eat something before coming out, you’ll need the extra energy.”

_ Dammit! _ Appearing to care wasn’t something I often did around my son, so he looks at me a bit oddly before nodding and closing the door. I take a deep breath and turn toward Kakarot. 

He chuckles to himself, “Now I see why you didn’t wanna see him.”

I shake my head with a playful smile, “You shut up, idiot. He might hear you.”

With another laugh he rests his hands on top of his head, letting his elbows fall lax, “I missed being insulted.”

I actually bristle out of frustration for a moment, “It looks like you’ll get plenty of it the way you’re acting.”

He tilts his head in an effort to look innocent, “I have no idea what you mean, Veg.”

The nickname calms my nerves a bit and I drag him back down the hall by his wrist, “Let’s go.”

“Where?” He finds his feet again and walks with me, hand resting in mine. I don’t bother pulling away, no one is here to witness the affection anyway. Besides, I know that this sort of thing will be limited until we have an opportunity to come out to everyone, so I dare not take it for granted. 

I can’t help the grin that comes to my face, “I was thinking we could stay at yours, considering your wife and child are out of there for once…” I trail off, debating my next sentence for hardly a second before it slips past my teeth anyway, “And it’s closer to nature. Something that will help me with your present.”

He stops in the middle of the hallway, still grasping my hand to hold me back, “My present?”

I nod, pulling him again, “Yes, I’ve decided on what it will be. It may take me awhile to craft, I hope you don’t mind.

He stays quiet for a minute, “No… That’s okay.”

I furrow my brow. Something doesn’t seem right with his tone, and the last time that happened I was having a nightmare, “What’s on your mind?”

He hesitates again, “I haven’t really decided on what I want to do for you… I think it’s gonna take me awhile to figure out. I’ll feel guilty if I don’t give it to you at the same time.”

I have to hold back a light chuckle. Honestly, his worry is endearing, it tells me that he’s really serious about mating with me correctly. I originally thought that he wouldn’t take it as seriously as it should be, but he quickly disproved my doubts when he had immediately jumped into grooming me  _ after  _ pleasuring me the only way he could while we were still unmated.

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

We leave the house out the front door and take off into the cold night. I close my eyes and smile into the chilly wind, this is something I have really missed in the last few months. The artificial weather in the chamber was nothing compared to the real thing.

I lose track of time and before I know what happened we’re landing in front of Kakarots home, and he’s digging around in a potted plant for a key. I look at him strangely for a moment before he simply says, “Chichi.”

Huh, why is it that hearing her name is leaving a sour taste in my mouth? That can’t be good. 

We step through the door and kick our boots off, automatically heading for the kitchen. I sit at the tall oak table, hoisting myself onto one of the stools. While running my hands across the smooth surface, I wonder absently If Kakarot made this himself. I wouldn’t be surprised. 

Not bothering to make anything fresh, Kakarot sets the near-empty pot of soup on the stove, flicking on the burner to warm it up. Frankly, I’m pretty surprised that leftovers survived in a house with one and a half saiyans. That Chichi must be pretty attentive to be able to keep up.

Why?

I’m becoming so bitter toward her… She never did anything to me. 

I shake my head, maybe I’m just more sensitive about the subject of ‘wives’ because we aren’t really married to them anymore. The transition is making me territorial. Pure instinct.

Clearly, the divorce between Kakarot and his woman will be clean and simple, they’ve already been plotting it for a while, so I’m not too worried about that.

But I am worried about Bulma. I know that she’ll be fine  _ eventually,  _ but the woman has always shown far too much attachment to me for my taste. I do love her, but in a way no different than I love my children. She’s my family. A close friend that helped me out of a rut, that I just so happened to raise two children with. 

I just hope she won’t be too upset with Kakarot. I can handle the anger she may throw around, but I’m not too sure that he could take it from someone he’s known for more than 30 years. 

I promise to myself that I’ll protect him if need be.

It takes me a few seconds to realize what had just gone through my head, and I almost laugh to myself, earning an amused glance from Kakarot across the table. He won’t need protection from her, she can hardly open a jar by herself let alone physically injure a man that had more strength in a fingernail than she had in her whole body.

He may not need physical defense, but he might need some emotional support. Either way, I’ll be there to help when he needs me.

It feels so good to not have to lie to myself anymore. The most liberating thing in the world is to not have to pretend, and I’m so excited to not have to do it anymore. After more than two decades, it gets exhausting to keep up with every day. I cast a look over to Kakarot, who is busy messily slurping soup from his bowl. 

I can’t believe that I actually fell for such an oaf. I chuckle to myself and eat with a spoon, like a normal goddamn refined man.

Part of his allure is his lack of giving a shit, he cares about the important things and nothing else, not manners, not social skills, none of that, and he still managed to win me over without even trying to.

Part of me is ashamed for being so easy to sway, and the other part…

He burps loud and sets his bowl down on the table. I smirk.

The other part is fucking ecstatic that I get this idiot by my side forever.  

We eat in general silence, given that Kakarot hardly looks up from his food long enough to breathe let alone form a full sentence. 

Eating only takes another few minutes until Kakarot slams his bowl down on the table, “Let’s go hunting.”

I’m about to tell him no, that it’s too late to go hunting, but thinking about it, we woke up only a few hours ago. We won’t grow tired for a long while, and to just sit around (like we’ve been doing or the past eight months) would be a waste. So I just nod and make my way back to the door to slip my boots on.

* * *

 

I’ve always wondered how Kakarot hasn’t hunted these woods barren. Even more, now that I see how bountiful all the game is. There’s everything from squirrels to dinosaurs, and a berry bush ever five meters.

We end up bypassing all of the food on land as Kakarot silently leads us to a river just a few miles from the house. 

The night is cloudless, and the bright summer moon glows down on the opening in the trees where the modest waterfall sparkles underneath it.

While the water is breathtaking, I’m more distracted by Kakarot. He’s so pale that he looks almost ghostly under the gentle light of the sky. His eyes glisten as he smiles down at the bank of the river, watching it for just a moment before untying his sash and stripping down to his boxers. He turns back to me for a second and waves before diving headfirst into the water. 

I watch for a minute, wondering when he’ll come back up.

After forty-five seconds of absence, I start to count. I know he’ll be alright, nothing on this planet could make that man die.

He stays under for a full three and a half minutes before bursting out, two giant fish in each hand.

While the catch looks delicious, I’m still blown away at how beautiful Kakarot is like this. His skin was glowing and pale before, but now with the sheen of silver water, he almost sparkles, the rivulets of water trailing down his body like diamonds. That, paired with the obvious change of his youth restore… He looks stunningly angelic, like he shouldn’t even belong in any physical world. 

He smiles at me, and I feel my heart stop for just a second. The one crooked tooth on the left side of his mouth pokes out cutely, framed by the rest of his teeth and his plump lips. His eyes are even brighter than they were before jumping in, and I find myself wondering how gray can look so pure.

The lines that show next to his eyes when he beams are healthy and firm, and they dissipate along with his grin. 

He shakes his hair of excess water, the strands sticking to the side of his face in a splay. He laughs quietly to himself as he throws the fish to the side, giving them a quick death with a small ki blast. I think about how effortlessly he hunts, how routine it is. 

I watch on in satisfaction when he lights an index finger up with concentrated ki, precisely gutting and flaying the fish, all while cooking it through with his searing finger. 

All four behemoth fish lay in a cooked pile just a few minutes later. He motions for me to wait and disappears into the thicket for a few minutes. 

While he’s gone, I sit on the ground and lay back to look at the sky. What are the odds that the one Saiyan that I found myself with is the strongest, most capable, most  _ compassionate  _ Saiyan I’ve ever met? I’ve never met anyone like him. Everyone else was rough around the edges, only cared about themselves, and on pretty common occasion would turn on their family for personal gain. 

Back then, part of me was happy to stay inside, hearing all those stories go about. Though I had no family and very few friends, to me, nothing was worse than trusting someone and having that trust betrayed. 

That’s why I had such a hard time forgiving my father for keeping things from me. Because I trusted him.

Kakarot interrupts my train of thought by reemerging from the woods, his big hands cupped full of a maroon berry.

He smiles, “It’s not exactly a glaze, but it tastes real nice!” He squeezes his palms together, dripping the berry juice all over the fresh meat. After tossing some small seeds to the side, he picks up a particularly hefty piece of fish and hands it to me, a distant but gentle smile on his face.

I bite into it. The tangy flavor of the berries pairs the fish really nicely. Yes, my chosen mate is very capable.

* * *

 

We make our way back to his house, but by the time we’re finished at the river the sun has peeked itself out from behind the horizon, bathing everything in a warm orange light. 

We’ve fucked our sleep schedules up so badly that we have to sleep in the middle of the day to get back to full power, so we each drink some water and head to bed.

Kakarot leads me to his bedroom, opening the door and stepping through, not a care in the world, but I stop at the entrance.

“Uh, I’m sorry Kakarot. I think I’m going to sleep on the couch instead.” I crinkle my nose and my throat burns. I can’t relax in such a place. It will weigh on my ego too much.

He tilts his head like a confused puppy, “What? Why?”

I shift my weight from one foot to the other, not sure of how to go about this, “Well, uh… The smell, it just…”

He leans the other way, sucking his lip. I sigh.

“It reeks of your wife in here. I can’t do it.”

He straightens back up, “Oh! I didn’t even notice. Let’s go then. The couch pulls out.” Kakarot snatches a few covers from the closet and ushers me back out the door. I watch as he unfolds the couch into a bare mattress and throws a thick duvet over the top of it. He crawls in with the rest of the blankets and motions for me to join him. 

I snuggle up next to Kakarot as he spreads the blanket over us, patting out the air. His thick arms find their way around my shoulders into a loose hug. I bury my head further into his chest.

Soon, he begins to snore.

* * *

 

Thankfully, we wake up just past noon instead of in the middle of the night. I stretch out next to Kakarot as well as I can with his arms still entrapping me. My movement seems to stir him awake as well, and he pulls me closer. I try to get up but he holds me down.

I chuckle to myself and push down on his arm in an effort to free myself, “Kakarot.”

He grunts, annoyed, “C’mon jus’ a bit longer.”

I shake my head and push him off me completely and stand before he has the chance to capture me again, “We’re burning daylight. Don’t you wanna figure out your mating gift?”

Kakarot slowly blinks his eyes open, glaring sleepily at me from his spot on the couch, “Fine…”

I have to hide my satisfied smirk by turning around to head to the kitchen, “Breakfast?”

He doesn’t answer, but I can hear him roll off the couch into a messy heap on the floor, slowly making his way to his feet and trudging to the kitchen, “Go shower or somethin’. I got this.”

I walk off toward the bathroom, and before getting in the shower I check my phone. Trunks texted me right before the two of us woke up. I completely forgot about training today. 

Maybe I’m getting too lax. I read the text.

**Thought you were getting me up for training :P Did Goku keep you up all night? Lmao** 11:46 am

My tired brain takes a second to process his words, but when I finally catch up I can’t help the steely glare at my screen. There’s no way he would know. I’m even pretty sure that his instincts wouldn’t recognize him as my mate yet. With a shaky breath, I reply.

**Yes, we were training all night. Ignore it for today, but be ready tomorrow. And let your sister know that I’ll be back then.** 12:27 pm

As I undress, another text comes through.

**Yeah, sure.** 12:29 pm

I’m not sure if he’s talking about Kakarot, training, or Bra, so I just ignore the text and get in the shower.

It takes me a few minutes to figure out how to turn the damn thing on, but once I do the hot water pelts my back and I sigh. It’s not the same as the one at home, but it’s just as pleasant. 

I wash my hair with a bottle that is obviously Kakarots, the smell is clear and pleasant, it reminds me of him. 

After I’m finished I walk back out into the kitchen, greeted by a tableful of brightly colored food. Kakarot is already sitting down with a full plate and another one is set at another chair, obviously meant to be my spot. 

Again, we eat in silence. Once my late is clear I pound in my chest a bit, “Kakarot, I have to go scavenge today, but you can’t come with me.”

He sets his fork down, a small frown on his lips, “Why not?”

I sigh, standing to put my plate in the sink, “It’s for your mating gift. I don’t want you seeing what I’ve planned,” He says nothing, “If you want you can go brainstorm as well if you feel like it. What was it you said about not wanting to be too late?”

I see him nod as I turn to lean against the counter, “Yeah, you’re right. Meet back here?”

I shake my head, “Capsule Corp. I have to get into heightened gravity soon or I’m going to lose my mind.”

“Are we gonna have another big spar?”

I shrug, “I was hoping. I’m anxious about these kids and I need to work it off somehow.”

He silently agrees with me and we prepare to leave. I remember that last night we passed by a section of saplings leading to the river.

I point the opposite direction of the trees, “You go that way. And don’t forget to come back here when you’re finished, alright?”

He nods quick and pecks me on the cheek, flying slowly off in the direction I sent him. I watch him go for a minute until he disappears. 

As soon as he’s out of sight I go off in my own direction, near shaking from excitement. I never thought I’d be able to do this for a mate, and now that I am it’s such a surreal experience that I’m having a hard time processing it. I need to make Kakarot’s gift absolutely perfect, there can be no mistakes, no weak points. 

I just hope that he’ll understand the symbolism. And I hope that he puts some symbolism into his gift, because that’s what makes it meaningful. 

Abandoning my sentimental thoughts, I peruse the young trees, bending them at the top and testing their pliability. I keep filing through until I have a healthy looking bundle of twigs under my arm, but by the time that happens, it’s nearly dark out. With a quick scan, I can feel Kakarot already back at the house. 

As I shoot a hole into the ground to hide the bundle, I see something odd from the corner of my eye. After burying the sticks I go and inspect it, and immediately get that sour taste in my mouth again.

On the trunk of a tall oak tree is a heart carved into the bark, holding a ‘G + C’ inside of it. It’s old, but the cut is deep enough that the tree never fully healed over it. With a grimace I kick the base of it, uprooting the damned thing in its entirety. 

With quick movements, I cut the tree to burnable pieces and toss them into the clearing with the saplings. We can use that garbage for firewood later.

Full of seething but quiet anger, I find an even bigger tree, lighting my whole arm up with searing ki, and bury my hand in the bark. My arm moves in wide sweeping motions, burning a giant heart into the wood.

On the inside, I burn ‘K + V’ and leave it at that.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, some smut.

My vision is red as I rush my way back to Kakarot’s home, I try to not let the ground shift beneath my feet with how hard I'm pushing down, but I find it near impossible with that image of the heart stuck in my head.

I'm not usually jealous, but that woman has no rights over my Kakarot, and I have full intentions to make that clear.

I'm going to clear the woman's scent out of there and replace it with my own, whether I'm welcome or not. Wandering back to the house was annoying, considering I had fled miles away, so I abandon the ground for flying.

In the air, I make my way back in less than ten minutes, and I could feel Kakarot’s energy blow from the house, like a bright beacon of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy world.

I shake my head and abandon the sentiment, I need to be all business and not let my emotions get in the way of my goal, though I'm sure that before I'm done I'll end up slipping.

I burst into the house, not bothering to be gentle when marching over to a suddenly wide-eyed Kakarot. He stares at me for a second, looking completely dumbfounded. Just as he's about to ask me what's wrong, I snatch him by the scruff and smash our mouths together, not letting him get a word in.

I need to start now if I'm going to keep my resolve, so I grip him harder and drag him from the couch by his hair, earning a quiet gasp.

“Veg, what’re you doin’?”

I ignore him as I drag him down the hallway toward his rancid bedroom, the first order of business is ridding the entire house of that woman's scent, down to the woodwork.

“Veg!”

I shake my head impatiently, figuring that he deserves a bit of explanation before I ravish him. I push him against the nearest wall, face away from me. I see a small flash of fear behind his eyes, but ignore it. Everything I'm about to do to him will be far from painful.

“I need to show you who you fucking belong to.”

I ignore the light whine from his throat and throw open the bedroom door, doing my best to push down the bile risen in my throat from her smell.

Pushing him backward, I try to give him a bit of comfort with my eyes as his knees hit the edge and he falls down, feet still on the floor. He props himself up on his elbows, looking down at me as I lift the edge of his gi top to expose a dark, teasing trail of hair.

He's already half hard, but the wet trail I trace from his navel down to the hem of his pants fixes that quite fast. He groans, obviously enjoying the feel of my tongue teasing him.

“Veg, seriously! Where is this coming from?”

Growling at my interruption, I figure that have no choice but to kind of tell him what's going on, “Kakarot, all I have to say is that I need this. I need it bad.”

“But… But it'll mess up our mating, won't it?! We can't just start over!” He sits up fully, trying to lift my head but I refuse and hold myself down.

I shake my head, “If I promise that everything will be fine, will you trust me and let me make you mine?”

The wording seems to get to him and he smiles a bit, settling back down. Wasting no time I pull his sash off along with his pants, exposing his straining length obvious against his thin boxers.

His breath is shaky, so I run a soothing hand under his shirt, shushing him. I have no intentions of being so gentle in a few seconds.

I kiss the insides of his thighs and pull the hem of his boxers down, appreciating the feel of his skin shaking against my palm. His length springs free and falls on his stomach, making a sweet thump.

He sucks in a breath through his teeth and sighs at the sight of me between his legs. Without waiting for him to prepare I take his cock into my hand and flick my tongue against it, letting him feel the warmth of my mouth hovering over him. He groans, head falling back in ecstasy.

I get a bit braver knowing he’s in my grasp, and take the entire member into my mouth, thrashing my tongue around and slurping like a whore. I can tell by his needy groans that he's never gotten this type of treatment, or it's been far too long since Chichi has shown him affection like this. I brace myself on his thighs and bob my head, being sure to not hold back any noises that may escape my throat. He deserves every little bit of my attention as I can give, and I won't be the one to deny him of it. He starts to shake a bit more, reacting to the hot lapping of my tongue and the now white dimples I've left in his legs.

"Veg, What're you doing?"

I shake my head and refuse to come up, making his last word fall off into choked moans. I can't help but smirk a bit around his shaft, and he feels the movement. I know he wants to say something but he's too distracted by the lightning in his legs to form a coherent sentence. I just continue, adding a clenched hand around his thick member, showing him just how much he's been missing with that woman of his. He doesn't seem to spare her a single thought, though, as I take all of him down my throat and hold him there for a few seconds. I can hear a gasp but I'm unsure if it's from the treatment or the skill.

Though, I would never tell him that I haven't given any sort of blowjob before. He doesn’t seem to care, all the knows know is my hand and my mouth. I can see that his arms are getting weak and that soon he'll fall on his back, but I take my other hand and grip him hard by the waist to keep him upright.

For some reason he seems to enjoy rough handling, and moans out loud into the bedroom, lolling his head around. I curl my tongue around him, taking the entire shaft in my mouth and down my throat. Kakarot groans and tries to buck his hips, but I take my hand away from his cock to hold him down.

He fights against me, trying to force his way further down my throat, but I run my teeth along the underside as a warning and shove his down more.

I peek a glance up at him. Much to my pleasure, his face is bright red, and at some point, he stifled his noises with a knuckle. A bit of blood has seeped past his lips to run a little down his hand. With some effort I pull off of him, earning a whine, and yank his hand from his mouth. I lick a light trail to gather his blood in my mouth and gently nurse his wound.

Kakarot can’t seem to tear his eyes away from mine, it almost feels like he’s trying to peer into my soul. I shake my head and kiss him hard, wrapping an arm around his neck to keep him from resisting.

He wiggles underneath me, trying to pull away. I bite his bottom lip as he does and look into his eyes again as he holds me by the shoulders.

“Veg, really. What’s… What’s going on? Why the sudden, uh, motivation?”

I shake my head again, pecking his lips once more before moving down his jaw and to his neck, “You’re mine.”

I can feel him shiver, but I’m not sure if it’s because of my words or the sucking on his throat. Maybe a combination of both.

“I know that,” He moves his head to the side to give me more access, “I always have been.”

I smile into his skin. He always knows just the right words to give me goosebumps. I lace my fingers in the hair at the back of his head and tug a little, pulling his head further to the side. He’s whimpering so quietly I have to struggle to hear him. I don’t appreciate it. I nibble down on the darkening bruise at the joint of his neck.

When he still refuses to let go, I growl in his ear, but that only makes him shake more. I take a bigger fistful of hair and yank it hard, forcing his mouth open. He looks at me with wide pleading eyes, still refusing to let go.

“Come on, sweetheart. Sing for me.” I run a hot hand down his side to lift up the hem of his shirt and pull it over his head. I toss it to the floor, “I haven’t been awarded the pleasure of making you scream yet. You wouldn’t want to keep that from me now, would you?”

My voice is smoky in Kakarot’s ear, I can tell that the hotness of my breath is getting to him. He cries out, a bit louder this time, “Vegeta…”

“That’s it,” I play with the edge of his pants, silently threatening to rip them off, “Don’t be afraid to feel good.”

His arms find their way around my neck, pulling our chests together. He’s still shaking. I know that he’s never been treated like this before, he’s practically a puddle and I’ve barely touched him. I can’t help but spare a twinge of pity. Out of everyone in the world, he’s the one that deserves the most love. I flatten my palms against his back for a few seconds before shaking my head a bit and pulling my gloves off, throwing them into the ever-growing pile of clothes on the floor.

At the sensation of my bare skin against his, Kakarot sighs contentedly and buries his face in the crook of my neck.

“Veg… I love you.”

I smile, “I know, beautiful.”

My hands trail their way around to his front and tweak his nipples, earning a shy and quiet moan and making his back flex deliciously. I kiss his cheek and make my way back down his front, lapping one of the pink buds on the way, and smile at Kakarot’s pitiful attempt to cover up a lustful gasp.

I descend on him again, not hesitating to take the entire shaft down my throat straight from the start. He starts to buck up again, and this time I let him, I want him to do whatever he wants to me. It’ll prove that he’s mine and I’m his in every way, and there’s nothing that harpy cunt can do about it.

My throat constricts and protests around him, but I force the reflex down, opening further and using my tongue to circle around the head.

He doesn’t last long, he’s definitely not used to being touched in a loving way. I swallow around him, sucking all of his seed down and making him twitch and moan. His cock is overly sensitive after his orgasm, and my mouth still working around it forces a loud cry from his mouth.

“Aaaah! ‘Geta!! Fuc-mmmMM!!” His hands find my hair, I can tell that he’s struggling between pushing me away and holding me in place, but he’s going soft, and I’m nowhere near finished with him, so I don’t let him push me away. I only groan when he pulls my hair, adding to the stimulus around his cock.

“Fuck! Vegeta, aaaAAHHH!” He falls back, hips shaking. He’s rock hard again, so I pop off and continue stripping him. He’s watching me with hooded, tired eyes, “What are you doing?”

I can’t hold my smirk. I lean over him so I can whisper in his ear again, “You really didn’t think we were done, did you?”

He shakes his head, “Veg, you’re gonna mess it up, we can’t…” His voice is thick, and if it wasn’t because he just blew his load in my mouth, it would be incredibly endearing.

“Oh, no. I’m not fucking you, Kakarot. Well, at least not like that.” I toss the rest of his clothes to the side and stand over him for a moment, admiring the built body beneath me. Kakarot really has been gifted in the looks department, I always thought so, but with him laid out for me like this, my mouth is almost watering.

“What are you…?”

“Come here.” I hook my arms under his knees and force my way between his legs. The quivering rattles through to my skin he’s shaking so hard. I wrap my arms around him and pick him up, and he locks his legs around me and grinds down on my own clothed hardness. The feeling is divine, but that’s not what I’m here to do. I march him out of the bedroom back into the living room and throw him down on the sofa. He bounces a bit but never breaks eye contact with me.

I dive back into him, kissing rough and hard and guiding his hands through my hair. He tugs hard, pushing me further onto him, but I pull back and put two fingers in his mouth while going back to his neglected cock. He sucks on my fingers and wiggles his tongue around them, though I’m not sure if he knows what I plan to do with them.

Regardless I take them from between his lips and bring one of his legs to sit on my shoulder. I toy a slick finger at his entrance as I descend on him again, the sweet saltiness of his seed still flavoring the shaft. I lose myself in the taste for a moment and languidly run my tongue along the vein trailing the bottom before remembering that I’m in the middle of a job.

Kakarot doesn’t seem to mind my teasing of his ass, but he isn’t very vocal about it either. With my fingers still prodding I come off him and lean down to whisper in his ear. This close to his mouth I can hear faint jagged breathing, but I can’t pinpoint if it’s from pleasure or anxiety.

I trace the shell of his ear with my tongue, “May I?”

I feel him shiver again, a huge racking shake of his whole upper body. He hesitates for a moment before swallowing hard.

“Just… Just be gentle, okay? I’m kinda nervous.”

I kiss the side of his head, “I promise I won’t hurt you. Just relax and let me make you feel good.”

I keep kissing his face as I slowly slide a finger into his tight ass. He tenses around me and I press a feathery kiss to his closed eyelid, “Relax, baby. It’s just one.”

“It… Feels weird.” He wiggles his hips a little to adjust to the new invasion, I give him a moment to settle before pushing a bit deeper. The tip of my finger ghosts around a little bump that seems like it might be fun to abuse, but I decide to wait for a bit.

“Just breathe, beautiful. It’ll feel great soon.”

He does just as I say and takes a shaky breath in through his nose. I kiss his cheek once more and look down his torso at my arm that sneaks away out of sight underneath him. I’m having just as much trouble breathing as he is, it seems. We haven’t been this close yet, and to be inside him in any way at this point takes my breath away.

Kakarot doesn’t seem to be doing much better, but he’s finally relaxing, I can see his chest heaving ever so slightly and the crinkled lines between his eyebrows begin to smooth out. I whisper nonsensically into his ear as I tease a second finger in. His legs lift up a bit by themselves, giving me more access and silently giving me permission to continue. He hisses a bit as the second digit finds its way inside.

I kiss my way back down his chest and take him into my mouth again, encouraging him to focus on the heat instead of the burning. My own cock is begging for contact with something, but it’s not hard to ignore when there’s so much else to be paying attention to, like the beautiful man groaning below me. He seems to have completely forgotten about the discomfort between his cheeks and he’s back to bucking up into my mouth. I don’t bother holding him down at all, just using my free hand to caress up and down his stomach, flexing my fingers around his rolling abs that sweat and heave as I bring him further down my throat.

I slowly scissor my fingers back and forth, just to get him used to them moving around. I bob my head up and down and pull him deep as I stroke both my fingers up against that little bump.

Kakarot cries out loud, not expecting the shocks sent through his whole body. His legs shake and out of the corner of my eyes, I can see his toes curl.

“‘GETA! What's-?! Ohhhh~!” He throws his head back, mouth wide open. He seems to have completely forgotten about being shy, his voice echoes throughout the room, nearly shaking the windows.

I press the bump a bit harder and swirl my tongue around the head of his cock, earning more shrill cries and rough thrusting into me. His left hand flies up to grab onto the back of the couch, ripping a chunk of it out, wood splinters and cotton fluff falls to the floor and between the cushions. He holds onto the bit tight, inevitably crushing it into a mess of filling.

Kakarot pants heavily through his mouth, chest heaving and thighs twitching. He tries to look down at me, but I prod at him again and his back arches. His head falls back down as I suction my cheeks in.

“Veg-! I’m! I’m gonna-! Aaahhh! ‘Geta!!”

He spills into my mouth again, but I don’t bother trying to keep him up again. He’ll come back for more soon enough. I keep jabbing at his prostate, making him flinch and writhe. He looks up at me again, eyes bright and sparkling. It almost looks like he’s about to cry.

He clenches his eyes shut and brings me down to his chest with a crushing hug. He tucks his head into my hair and quivers, “I love you… I love you…”

I swallow the load in my mouth. I’m happy that I’ve been able to reduce my Kakarot to a messy puddle of emotion with such simple movements. It makes me feel powerful, but not in a way of dominating him.

It’s more of a protective feeling, like I would never let anyone come near him. I smile and shake my head. I know he’ll win the alpha fight and feel the same for me, but being the beta doesn’t mean that I can’t protect my mate. He doesn’t need me to be with him, but I can tell by the way he holds me that he wants me to stay.

Good. I don’t plan on leaving.

He releases the hug in favor of grabbing my face between his hands and tenderly pressing our mouths together over and over. I’ve noticed that he isn’t much one for messy wet kissing, and I don’t really mind at all. There’s something endearing and innocent about the way he pouts when he kisses me and shudders when I flick my tongue out or nip at him.

“I love you too, precious. Come here.” With my fingers still inside him, I wrap my other arm around his back and lift him off the couch. His body is almost completely limp, I’ve really done a number on him, but we’re not quite finished yet. Kakarot groans and tosses his arms around my shoulders and hangs his head lazily, not caring what I decide to do to him at this point. He trusts me to not push him too far.

I carry him the short trip to the kitchen and set him down on the dinner table. His arms are still slung around me. I lean down and kiss his neck a few times to coax him up, but he doesn’t really respond aside from a few grunts of recognition. I decide to not fight him and pick him up again, flipping him around so he’s leaning over the table, flushed cheek laying against the wood.

The table is tall, and with his torso entirely laying on the table, I have a glorious view of his bare ass and half my hand disappearing into it. I smirk as he twitches and moans again as I pull them out, spreading his cheeks to stare at my prize.

Kakarot has a beautiful ass, the bright pink hole twitching in protest at the loss of contact. It’s practically begging for me.

I’m tired of waiting. I lean down and lap against him with a wet tongue. He can tell the difference immediately. He tries to turn around to see what I’m up to, but I hold him down and go further in, gently working my tongue inside.

“Vegeta… What’s…?”

I growl into his ass as a warning to keep quiet. He listens, but still shifts around like he’s uncomfortable. Even after being fingered his ass is still tight as hell, but I manage to push past that ring of muscles to try to get to that little bump. I want to know if I can reach it with my tongue, and see how he’ll react if I can.

He’s moaning again, and with a quick check, I'm satisfied to find that he’s back at full mast. The most important thing is that he’s enjoying himself.

Kakarot is slowly working back up into his loud moaning, throwing my name and some vulgar swears in the mix.

His noises spur me on, my tongue seems to be moving on its own, fighting its way inside and searching for that one sensitive spot. My erection is nearing painful, being neglected for so long and teased with this beautiful body. It’s becoming hard to ignore, but my hands are free now and exploring by themselves. I rub myself through my spandex, relieving some of the tension just enough to focus.

I find that I’m not quite able to reach at this angle, no matter how deep I shove my tongue. I grunt and pull away, annoyed. I flip my Kakarot over again and jack him with a slick hand for a second to catch my breath.

“Fuck, Vegeta… Please.”

I can’t help the grin that creeps onto my face, “Please what, precious?”

He reaches for my face, and I think he’s going to bring me in for another kiss, but he pushes me back down toward his ass, flushing bright red. He’s too ashamed to say it out loud, it’s actually really cute. He whines when I resist and keep my head up, slowing my stroking down just enough to tease.

“You want me to keep eating this sweet ass of yours?”

He cries out again, I can feel his cock twitch in my palm in response to the dirty talking. He pushes me again. I click my tongue and shake my head, grinning down at his red face and sweaty chest, “No, I want you to beg.”

“Please, Veg…” He bites his lip, “I need it. Please.”

“What do you need, precious? Say it.”

He whines and looks away, too embarrassed to make himself say it out loud. I keep waiting though, gently stroking his cock and kissing the fleshy inside of his thigh.

“Veg…” He finally speaks, eyes clenched shut and a frustrated pout on his lips, “I want… I… I need you to eat me…”

I nip at his skin, “Eat what, sweetheart? You’ll have to be more specific.”

Kakarot wiggles around in a bit of a tantrum. I’d be lying if I said that teasing him and making him beg for it wasn’t fun. He arches his back to try and force me back down.

“Please, ‘Geta. Please… Eat my ass… Please.”

Truthfully, I wouldn’t have wanted to wait much longer. I’m happy he decided to break, I was becoming impatient.

I go back down on him, not waiting to push my way inside to search for his sweet spot. It’s much easier to reach in this position, my tongue flicks against it and teases it with hot touches. Kakarot writhes under me, the feeling of my tongue in his ass and my now tighter hand around his cock.

Though he's already finished twice, I can feel that he won't last long. He's too exhausted for his body to fight against it. My jaw is getting sore and my cock is feeling incredibly neglected, but I'm determined to make my soon-to-be mate teary-eyed and shaking with pleasure before I even think about finishing myself off.

Spit is messy around my mouth and dripping off my chin, and Kakarot’s weeping cock only makes everything slicker. He's leaking almost constantly, a sticky stream of pre telling me that he's already close again.

I switch, taking my mouth from his ass in favor of swallowing his cock and shoving three fingers inside him.

Through my eyelashes I see tears sliding down his face and his arms brought up to his chest, hands balled into tight fists. His mouth is wide open, but there's no noise anymore, it seems he's screamed himself down to nothing.

I take him as far down my throat as I can stand while pushing hard on his prostate, almost enough to hurt him.

Whether it hurts or not doesn't matter. He shoots into my mouth again, tensing firmly around my fingers and shaking.

He relaxes and falls completely limp. The only sign that he hasn't died is the shallow rise and fall of his chest as he tries to regain his senses.

I swallow again and pull off him one last time, crawling over his body to give him tender kisses on his face. He mutters nonsensically to me, but I can tell that he wants to be held. I pick him up and bring him back to our bedroom, shouldering open the door and gently laying him down on the still damp sweaty sheets. I cover him with a thin sheet and crawl in at the other side after shedding my spandex and tossing it in the pile of clothes across the room.

I give him a few love bites across his neck and shoulders before he starts to snore. I work myself to completion in just a few minutes and cuddle up next to him.

The feeling of our, naked, vulnerable bodies against each other is something I'm sure would feel profound in any other context, but right now, I'm just happy to have flushed that woman's scent out of this house and replaced it with my own.

And now I know for sure that Kakarot is truly mine, and no one else's.


End file.
